Taste of life
by Nekocin
Summary: [AU, YamatoxSora] Sora has to marry someone she doesn't know. But is it really going to be that easy?
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: I don't own these characters. They're not mine. Only the fic belongs to me, but not the characters. End of story!   
  
Taste of life  
  
prologue  
  
by: Nekocin  
  
Email: animecrush@sr.net  
  
Type: AU  
  
Warnings: It's overly HET, I supposed... ^_^' and uh... if you don't like Sora, please don't read. You'll torture yourself just to read a fanfic with her in it.   
  
Pairings: HET ones what else? -_-  
  
Author's notes: the title seems disturbing and strange... I think I'll change it next time. ::Crosses fingers:: I hope I'll be able to finish this soon. This story came up to me after I've left a library and it just hit me that I SHOULD write it down just like the other fanfics -_-' I hope it doesn't suck. I'm actually known to like both shounen-ai/yaoi and shoujo-ai/yuri in this anime or any other anime, but this just hit me. It's going to be HET. And uh... I'm not turning them into Mary Sue.  
  
Anyways, just read it and I hope you'll enjoy ^_~.  
  
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"Mr. Takenouchi! Your time is up!! Just give me the damn money!" a tall man clad in some middle classed robes was demanding in front of the man whom he called Mr. Takenouchi.   
  
"But-but-but... I don't have it right now... I promise I'll get your money tomorrow morning! Please give me another chance... please... I beg you... I really don't have it right now..." The other man struggled with his own words while he pleaded in front of the furious-looking man.   
  
"No, Mr. Takenouchi, you've already promised me last week that you'll pay me today. Now where's the money?" The other man demanded.   
  
Mr. Takenouchi tried his hardest not to sound weak as his wife was watching them through a chink. She looked worried at her husband and leaned forward to take a better look at the two.   
  
Where can they find enough money to repay their debts? Where can they get the money? They lived in a poor neighborhood and like any neighbor they had their own debts to pay. Mr. Takenouchi had lent the money from Mr. Kanzaki last month just to be able to buy some food to feed his family. Life is so hard nowadays that they were afraid that their only daughter would suffer under this kind of condition.   
  
Being poor... making most noble men strip them from their honorable Takenouchi name which they'd been trying to hold high in all those years and making their only hope for a better future or life, their daughter... a prostitute. But like any good parent they don't want bad luck in their daughter's path, especially when she's their only child and only hope that their life weren't that rotten at all.   
  
Their problems are now other than paying for their debts... they'd to marry her off as soon as possible before she becomes an overgrown maiden. Someone who is going to stay a virgin for all her life and not giving them any signs of having their grandchildren.   
  
At last Mr. Takenouchi was able to persuade Mr. Kanzaki for coming back next time to take their debts.   
  
"Well... you better think of something right now, Mr. Takenouchi..." Mr. Kanzaki said while poking his finger at Mr. Takenouchi's chest, who winced silently.   
  
"Good day, Mr. Takenouchi..." Mr. Kanzaki grumbled and walked out of the door.   
  
"G-g-good day, Mr. Kanzaki..." Mr. Takenouchi said and closed the door.  
  
He slumped down on one of the wooden chairs in the house and sighed heavily.   
  
"What to do now?" he mumbled under his breath. His wife rose from her hiding place and slowly walked up towards her husband.  
  
"W-w-what should we do?" she asked worriedly while glancing back at one of the closed doors. Mr. Takenouchi looked up at his wife and sighed.   
  
"I don't know... there's too much coming up... Sora is already going to reach a marriageable age... and still I've to find one good man for her..."   
  
"You know that she won't let you do that... you know she wants to find that someone on her own now... you know how stubborn she is when it comes to these kind of subjects..." Mrs. Takenouchi sat near her husband and laid a reassuring hand on her husband's.   
  
"I know... I wonder from which side of the family did she get that stubborn attitude?" He wondered and glanced up at his wife.   
  
She understood his gaze and her glance hardened. "Don't look at me like that. It came from your side. You were the one who told her about those fairy tales. She believed you. You're the one told her about the great knights and princes or whatever they're called who were trying to find their one true love and whatever there's more..." she contradicted his gaze.   
  
"Oh... I really didn't think she would take them so seriously... besides I heard those stories from my mother when I was young. So I'll have to pass it down to her, right?" a sly grin appeared on his face.   
  
"Stop joking around... get to work, you know we have to pay him back..." her gaze was still hardened and her husband pouted.   
  
"You're right..." he sighed.   
  
There was a firm knock on their door.   
  
Both of them looked at each other, confused. Who will be knocking on their at this kind of early morning?   
  
"He's already back?" Mrs. Takenouchi said in a trembling tone.   
  
"Can't be..." Mr. Takenouchi whispered.   
  
A few knocking sounds can be heard.   
  
"Mr. Takenouchi!" was the voice.   
  
Mr. Takenouchi squinted his eyes and walked slowly over to the front door.   
  
"Doesn't sound like Mr. Kanzaki..." he said under his breath.   
  
"Mr. Takenouchi, I know you're in there!" the voice called while knocking on the door again. Mrs. Takenouchi looked at the front door as her husband slowly opened it.   
  
"Yes..." His eyes widened the minute he saw who was at his doorstep.   
  
"You-you-you're..." he managed to say.  
  
*.*.*.*.*   
  
A big bush of red roses was on a table. It had a tag on it, which was addressed to Takenouchi Sora and was wrapped neatly by a light blue ribbon, keeping it together. A young girl with light brown hair and red with highlighted orange eyes, slumped on her chair as she was staring blankly at the roses.   
  
"Again?" one of her friends who was sitting in front of her asked, while glancing at the big bush of red roses on her friend's desk.   
  
"Yeah...I suppose..." she answered while staring at the tag.   
  
"Who is it from? The same guy from yesterday?" her friend asked while leaning on Sora's desk, staring at the bush of roses.   
  
"I guess so..."   
  
"Ha! You've a secret admirer!" her friend teased and her friend's cheeks flushed.   
  
"No way... this-this may be some kind of joke..."   
  
"No it's not..."   
  
The other students just stared at the big bush of red roses.   
  
"I wonder how he knows your name... I mean, come on. If this is from a secret admirer, than maybe it's from one of you guys..." Sora's friend glanced at the boys from their class.   
  
"Nu-uh... not me"   
  
"Me neither"   
  
"Don't look at me"   
  
"I'm already taken"   
  
"No way"  
  
Sora's friend rolled her eyes and glared at the boys from their class.   
  
"Fine! Then he's one total stranger!" she was exasperate and rubbed her temples.   
  
"Still no clues who's it from, huh Sora?"  
  
Sora chuckled and ripped the tag away from its place.   
  
"Nope... just the same nameless tag and this poem... "   
  
"A poem, huh? The same one like that hilarious little scribbles 'violets are blue' etcetera?"   
  
"No... a different one..."  
  
"Like the wind when it glare through my skin, your smile stabs into my heart,  
  
like the wind when it takes along its knives and hundred teeth, the coldness is tearing me apart,  
  
please accept this gift from me as a token for my loyalty to love you..."  
  
Sora shuddered a little and her friend watched her with amusement in her eyes.   
  
"Good. It's a different one...It sounds a lot better than that violet poem" her friend teased and Sora shot her a glare.   
  
"What? You've always wanted to be in love or something..." her friend rolled her eyes as she crossed her arms over her chest.   
  
Sora quickly clamped her hand in front of her friend's mouth and hissed a quiet "shut up or else..." to her.  
  
*.*.*.*.*  
  
"How are we going to tell her?" Mrs. Takenouchi said while she was worried and happy at the same time. Her husband was walking up and down in the room while looking hard on the wooden floor.   
  
"I don't know. I don't know... I don't know..."   
  
"But you could have asked her first before accepting the offer..." his wife glared at him, who seemed to not notice the hard look.   
  
"I know... but I just can't refuse his offer. You know he's a good friend. A friend whom I've never met again after our wedding... I'm sure Sora will understand this. I know she will, she'll never misunderstand my judgments..." Mr. Takenouchi said while Mrs. Takenouchi noticed how his words were trembling when it came out of his mouth.   
  
"I'm home!" came a clear and cheerful voice, which broke the tension a little bit.   
  
"She's home..." Mrs. Takenouchi said under her breath and looked up at her nervous husband. He straightened himself and cleared his throat.   
  
"Sora! Come here. We've something to tell you..." He said firmly, trying not to tremble again.   
  
"What is it?" the girl asked as she threw the roses near the other bushes of red roses, which were hidden in a box.   
  
"Sora...we... you..." her father tried to blurt out the words which he'd been practicing in his head for the last few minutes.   
  
Sora looked confused at her parents and sat on the wooden chair. Like any teenage girl, she had to sit down and listen to her parents if it was something very important. Usually Mr. Takenouchi wasn't afraid of telling his daughter his big plans which were always on top of the list, but now... something seems to be very wrong... very wrong.   
  
She noticed how uncomfortable her parents were shifting on the chairs. Mrs. Takenouchi watched as her husband tried to explain something and sighed. Even if he's much more braver than you thought, usually a mother should take matters in her hands whenever it has something to do with her daughter, besides... Mr. Takenouchi doesn't really know how to talk about these kind of stuff when it comes to his daughter.  
  
"Sora..." Mrs. Takenouchi caught her daughter's attention and she noticed the confused look in her crimson eyes.   
  
"What's going on? Did I do something wrong? Did the neighbor blame me for the cat being lost again?" Sora asked. "Tell me..."   
  
"Well... Sora, this morning... a friend of your father... came to visit us..." Mrs. Takenouchi started.   
  
"A friend?" Sora looked questionably at her father.   
  
"Yes, a very good friend. More likely a brother... we used to visit the same schools..." Mr. Takenouchi added.   
  
"And?" Sora wondered why this has anything to do with that something they wanted to tell her.   
  
"You know we've to repay Mr. Kanzaki and you know we really can't afford it so soon... Our visitor happens to be a very generous man and so he gave us the money to release ourselves from Mr. Kanzaki's debts..." Mrs. Takenouchi hesitated and Mr. Takenouchi noticed it, the tension was rising again. Sora frowned and glanced blankly at her parents.   
  
"What has that got to do with me?" She kicked herself mentally when she knew something very bad would come out as an answer to her question.   
  
"... In return we've to marry you off to..." Mr. Takenouchi gathered up his courage and finally blurts it out.   
  
"MARRY ME OFF TO HIM?" her parents winced when their daughter's angry voice was rising each time. "HOW COULD YOU?"   
  
"No not him..." Mrs. Takenouchi assured. "I know that it's a bad idea... but we've to pay our debts as soon as possible and my friend has already given me the money to pay for our debts..."   
  
"THEN GIVE IT BACK! THERE'S NO WAY I'M GOING TO MARRY AT THIS KIND OF AGE... ESPECIALLY TO A TOTAL STRANGER!!" she shouted angrily.   
  
"I can't... Mr. Kanzaki had already snatched it away as soon as he saw me with my friend... I couldn't even utter a word when he just snatched the money away from my hand before I could give the money back to my friend. I know you'll be upset... but... that now I've to give my friend something in return..." her father cut in quickly, trying to calm his daughter down.   
  
"Sora, I know you're really upset, my friend didn't protest when Mr. Kanzaki snatched the money away. He just asked for your hand for..." Mr. Takenouchi said slowly as he grabbed his daughter's shoulders. "You understand that I'm right this time. You understand that I'm doing this for your own sake and for our Takenouchi name even though we can't have another child who can bear our family name down to his children... You understand that, right? You know that I can't turn the clock around to give the money as fast as I could back to my friend... you know that. And you know that we're broke and..."   
  
Sora's shoulders slumped down and she looked down.   
  
"Enough..." she muttered softly, knowing that she'd been defeated and that her father was right. The last few weeks they were running out of money and out of food supply. There's almost no other way to repay their debts... if they were going to lend some money again, their debts would just increase even more.   
  
"May I go to my room now?" she asked softly.   
  
"Sure... I'll call you when it's dinner time..." Mrs. Takenouchi said as her husband let go of Sora's shoulders.   
  
She walked towards her room with her head down and tried her hardest not to let the stinging in her eyes take over. Her parents watched her enter her room and sighed as the door was slammed closed. Sora broke down and hid herself under her blankets.   
  
"Life is not fair!" She screamed in her pillow and almost choked in her burning tears. If she's going to be married off she'll have to leave her parents, her friends, school... all those other normal things any girl at her kind of age will do. As soon as she takes on her husband's family name, she's no longer a girl now... she'll become a woman. That's the hardest thing she'll ever do... maybe not the worst, but the hardest.  
  
"Do you think she'll be fine?" Mr. Takenouchi asked.   
  
"I don't know... I can only tell that she's going to be miserable for the rest of her life..." Mrs. Takenouchi answered while leaning her forehead against her husband's back.   
  
"Do you think he's suitable for her? I've heard they'd a hard way of convincing him for a lot of times... What if he's going to break her or something if he doesn't approve her being his soon-to-be wife? What if...?" her voice was trembling.   
  
"I'm not sure, but I trust my friend's assurances... I'm sure Sora is strong enough to become a great wife..." Mr. Takenouchi said slowly.   
  
"There's no other way to take the whole thing back?" his wife asked him in a soft voice.   
  
"I guess not..." he sighed and dropped his eyes.   
  
"Life is getting more miserable each time someone knocks on our front door..."   
  
"Just like I'd pointed out, sometimes life just isn't fair which will never be..." Mrs. Takenouchi said and embraced her husband from his back.   
  
....  
  
End prologue  
  
Author's notes:  
  
::takes deep breath:: Aaa... finally done with prologue. @_@ It's such a hard way to express the whole scene and write it in a more understandable way -_-'. Aaa... my fingers hurt.   
  
Anyways, this fic was actually inspired by some known facts from my History class ^-^, and uh... it has to make sense somehow, so I choose to write like that -_-'. Now I've to worry about who is going to be the groom -_-'. Any ideas? Nah... :P I've already a couple in mind. Well, on to chapter 1.  
  
=^-^=cin 


	2. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own these characters. They're not mine. Only the fic belongs to me, but not the characters. End of story!   
  
Taste of life  
  
chapter 1  
  
by: Nekocin  
  
Warnings: There's a certain clumsy person in here. So no violence please.  
  
Author's notes:   
  
Sam: I'm not telling :P   
  
^-^' nah, just kidding... Besides I think I've already wrote the pairing in my summery there. I'm glad you liked it ^-^. Thanks for the review.   
  
Well here's chapter 1 ^-^ it really doesn't coordinate with the first one, huh?  
  
// ... // thoughts  
  
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Someone murmured from under the blankets as the sun was shining through the big window. The sunlight was bouncing light blue butterflies in the room as someone else was drawing the violet curtains. The one under the blanket murmured again and winced when the sunlight touched his heavy eyes. The room was half decorated with dark blue tapestries and a big wallpapers of dragons with white wolves. A big wardrobe containing a few uniforms, formal clothes, the famous black suits... and most of them haven't been worn in all those years.   
  
"Master... you've to wake up! Wake up master or you'll be late for school..." the servant said while gently shaking his master.   
  
"Go away... I need sleep..." a male voice grumbled as he tuck himself deeper under his thick blue blankets.  
  
The servant sighed and shook his head. He was holding his master's robes and laid them on a nearby chair.   
  
"Master... it's not even Sunday, so please get up before your father kicks you out of bed..." the servant said as he pulled the blankets away. His master was never a real morning person and tried to sleep in. But he'd never succeeded since his father will stomp down to his room and throw a bucket of cold water on him. The figure, which had been hiding under his blanket, winced again when he felt the blanket wasn't on top of him.   
  
"Where is my blanket?" he murmured and he tried to reach for something warm. The heavy lids gave in and his vision was blurred. The boy gasped and quickly jumped out of bed.   
  
"I'm blind!! I can't see a thing!!" He shouted. "Aaa... I'm blind! I'm blind! How can that be?"   
  
The servant grinned and pulled his master along.   
  
"Where are you taking me?!" the boy demanded as he rubbed his eyes.   
  
"Just get ready for school, master" the servant said and pushed his master in to a room.   
  
The boy slipped and hit his head on the bathtub.   
  
"Oww..." he hissed and slowly tried to find his way into the tub, imagining he was really blind. "Sh*t! Now I AM blind!" he cursed and fell into the tub.   
  
"Pffthopfft..." he muffled in the water and gasped loudly when he'd finally got his head out of the damn warm water.   
  
The servant heard a few splashing and curses inside the bathroom and grinned again.   
  
"Are you alright in there, my master?" the servant tried his hardest to sound concern.   
  
"Yeah yeah... fine fine... oof... my eyes are burning..." the boy muttered and glanced at his wet clothes. He cursed again and took off his wet pajamas before getting back into the tub.   
  
The servant shook his head again and tried his hardest not to snicker. The master was getting weirder each day. Last time was almost the same, but not with the 'being blind' comment. The big master, the boy's father, had to wake him up with cold water. The boy almost caught a bad cold.   
  
The servant pitied his master for not being a morning person. Usually the boy didn't need his servants to wake him up, his mother used to do that back at their old house. Two months ago they'd just moved into this neighborhood and the boy was already becoming a real rebel. The curses, the arrogant attitude and even the way he looked. If his mother saw him like this she would have given a long lecture about behaving like a good gentleman... which was impossible.   
  
//Even though he might be a little stubborn... he's still a kid. A very BIG kid// the servant thought as he went down to his master's bedroom.   
  
"Where's father?" The boy burst into his room while wrapping his towel firmly around his waist.   
  
The servant gave him the uniform and shoved him inside the dressing room.   
  
"Get dress, my master! There's no time to lose" the servant ignored the question.   
  
"Fine! Don't tell me!" the boy hissed and stuck his tongue out when the door was closed. The fire in his eyes was dimmed and sadness covered the bright blue eyes.   
  
//It's still the same...// he thought and looked at his black uniform in disgust. //Ugh... school and squealing girls...// he rolled his eyes.   
  
"Master..." the voice said softly from the other side of the room.   
  
"Yes! I'm getting dressed!" the boy shouted and slipped into his jacket.   
  
"Master, you're father has gone to meet one of his childhood friends in there..." he heard the servant.   
  
"THERE? Is he nuts? Since when did he have friends? And since when did he pay any attention to them? And why has he never mentioned them before?!..."   
  
T  
  
he servant winced as his master began to curse along with the storming questions.  
  
*.*.*.*.*  
  
The boy slowly stepped on the school grounds and swung his school bag over his shoulder. He rubbed his temples and ran his fingers through his bangs.   
  
"Pffftt... when will I have to stop studying?" he grumbled and walked through the giant gates of: Merodia Harvard school [1].   
  
The name wore a very honorable place in the villager's hearts since only the rich were able to pay for this school. It was a huge school building and the roof can be seen from far away. Who knows how big acres lands it was needed to build this big school and even put a beautiful garden behind the school. It was supposed to be a real Catholic school only for girls, but as the years passed by the rules were being bent and it became a real coeducational school.   
  
"G'morning!" a group of girls chimed as he passed them down the hall.   
  
He smirked and gave a quick wave with his index and middle finger.   
  
//Girls...// he rolled his eyes as he heard them sigh deeply and melting down in their own dreamland. //I hope they won't notice that bruise up there// he muttered inwardly as he waved a quick greeting to another group of girls.   
  
//It's good that it's still early in the morning or they'll be swarming around me like leeches... yech! // He shuddered and walked into a class.   
  
"Good morning, Yamato" his friend smirked as he slumped down on his chair.   
  
"Hey" he greeted and threw his school bag on his desk.   
  
"Gee... someone is being cranky again..." his friend said while leaning against the desk on his elbows.   
  
"I got blinded..." Yamato muttered and ran his fingers through his hair again.   
  
"That explains that little thing up there..." his friend smirked and pointed up at his forehead. Yamato groaned and tried to cover the bruise with his bangs.   
  
His friend watched with amusement and cleared his throat. "Blind, huh?"   
  
Yamato shot him a glare and mumbled something under his breath.   
  
"What? Did you say something?" his friend asked dramatically.   
  
"I said I just slipped... and I'm not cranky!" Yamato cut in.   
  
"Ha! Look who's talking!" his friend chuckled and waved the anger away. Yamato rolled his eyes and glared at his grinning friend.   
  
"Come on! Don't be so uptight! It's just a little cut there..."   
  
"It's not the bruise I'm mad about..." Yamato mumbled while crossing his arms over his chest.   
  
"Oh... then why the face, Yamato? Did your father wake you up again with cold water?"   
  
Yamato noticed his friend trying to keep the snickers inside and his glance hardened. "No, he did not..."   
  
"Then... it has something to do with him again, isn't it?" the smirk disappeared and Yamato's nodded once. "Now what did he do this time, Yama?" his friend cupped his own chin and looked at Yamato's angry eyes.   
  
"He just left to visit a childhood friend in THERE" Yamato emphasized the 'there', making his friend winced.   
  
"He has a childhood friend in the THERE?" his friend's eyes widened as Yamato nodded. "Is that so bad?"   
  
"Yes, it is. He had never shown any kindness to them for the last few months after we moved here..." Yamato said and his friend sighed and waved in front of Yamato's face.   
  
"Okay, okay, okay... so it's your old man again..."   
  
"YAMATO!!!" the boys winced when the high-pitched screech echoed through the room.   
  
Everyone sweatdropped as a whole crowd of girls stormed in.   
  
"Wha...?" Yamato's eye widened and was run over by the girls [2], falling off his chair.   
  
"YAMATO-SAMA!! ARE YOU ALRIGHT?" one of the girls asked.   
  
"WILL YOU BE MY GIRLFRIEND?"   
  
"YOU'RE THE LOVE OF MY LIFE!!"   
  
"ROSES ARE RED, VIOLETS ARE BLUE..."   
  
Yamato was twirl-eyed as he was being pulled from one side to the other.   
  
"Break it up! Break it up! Break it up! Girls... class is beginning now" Yamato's friend said and pushed his way through to save his buddy from his admirers.   
  
"Aaaw... why do you have to but in, Yagami-sama?" the girls murmured and shot him enough glares and daggers.   
  
"Yeah yeah whatever..." Yamato's friend ignored their glares and pulled his friend in a straight standing position.   
  
"You owe me big, Yama!" he grinned and patted Yamato's shoulder.   
  
"Thanks..." Yamato heaved a sigh of relief and slumped down on his chair.   
  
"I really don't know how you can stand them all? I wonder if there's really a sweetie in there whom you like best..." His friend teased.   
  
"Shut up, Taichi!" Yamato cut in as they were receiving weird glances from their classmates.   
  
"What are you looking at?!" Yamato shouted and everyone shivered.   
  
They quickly shuffle their way back to their seats and didn't dare to look at him. A very angry Yamato is not a good sign. Most guys fear his temper except Taichi, his friend, while girls were swooning around because of his handsome features.  
  
*. *. *. *. *  
  
"I can finally get what I wanted!" someone rubbed his hands and took off his coat.   
  
"Welcome back, master Ishida. The young master has already left for school, sir" one of the servants greeted him and took his coat.   
  
"So I've noticed... you didn't have any difficulties waking him up, right?" Mr. Ishida said as he walked into the living-room.   
  
"No, sir. But the young master has difficulties waking up, sir. He woke up screaming he was blind and hit his head I believe on the tub and almost drowned himself in the bath..." the servant said, trying to keep his face straight.   
  
"So he did? As soon as he comes back, send him to my work. You hear that?" Mr. Ishida said while raising his index finger in front of the servant.   
  
"Yes, sir. How was your day at your friend's house?" the servant asked.   
  
Anyone like the servants who asked the rich about their day would have been punished, but Mr. Ishida considered the old servant as a part of the family. The servant, Kenichi, had been serving his family for over 20 years and still bore the hardships when Mr. Ishida's father was alive. His father was known as a tyrant, but it seems that only Kenichi was able to bear all those hardships all alone.   
  
"They don't seem so happy the last time I saw them... they had money trouble and so I offered to give them some money to pay their debts. That crazy Mr. Kanzaki snatched it away before my friend could give it back to me. I know my friend would never accept money so easily and since I went there with a purpose I just told him it was alright..."   
  
Kenichi wanted to say something, but stopped since Mr. Ishida needed to finish his story.   
  
"... and I've asked for their daughter's hand..."   
  
Kenichi mouth fell open. "F-f-f-for the young master?"   
  
"Yeah, something like that..." Mr. Ishida shrugged.   
  
"B-b-b-but you know how quick he can lose his temper... she might never stand his attitude" Kenichi was against the idea of marrying the young master off to THAT girl. The girl who came from a poor neighborhood.   
  
"I know. I know... besides their daughter isn't that bad. She's cute" Mr. Ishida said and walked towards the stairs with Kenichi on his tail.   
  
"You've already met her?" Kenichi said in disbelief.   
  
"Not really... that's why I need you to send him up to my work. Just don't tell him yet. I need to talk to him man to man..." Mr. Ishida grinned and Kenichi stared with disbelief at his master.   
  
//I can't believe he's being so cruel to the poor boy... the boy isn't ready for the marriage thing// And again, Kenichi pitied his young master's fate.   
  
*. *. *. *. *  
  
5:30 P.M.   
  
The front door was being opened and Yamato walked into the house, taking off his shoes and socks.   
  
"Ugh... finally school is over..." Yamato muttered and didn't notice Kenichi walking up towards him while he was pulling his socks off.   
  
"Young master..." Kenichi said while Yamato froze.   
  
He looked up and noted that Kenichi was looking worried. Something must be wrong. And the change of addressing him with 'young master' instead of 'master' only meant that his father was at home now.   
  
"Your father wants you up stairs at his work, young master..." Kenichi said after taking a few breaths.   
  
"What is going on?" Yamato narrowed his eyes when he saw Kenichi taking a few breaths.   
  
"Nothing. Nothing. I'm fine. Just go to your father before he gets angry... and remember don't snap so fast, sir" Kenichi waved the question away and pushed Yamato up the stairs.   
  
"All right..." Yamato said and felt uncertainty all the sudden. Did he do something bad again? Did the principal report to him that he was involved in a fight last week?   
  
//That can't be... // he thought and walked up the stairs, not noticing Kenichi gaze on his back.   
  
Yamato stopped in front of a big oak door and took a deep breath. He straightened his uniform and ran his fingers a few times over his bangs.   
  
"Okay, Yamato... here goes..." Yamato muttered under his breath and his knuckles wanted to hit the door when a muffled voice called him.   
  
"It's open!!"   
  
Yamato froze and wondered how his father knew that he was there. He rubbed his feet against each other and opened the door.   
  
"You've asked for me to come, father?" Yamato said firmly, trying not to sound weak in front of his father.   
  
"Ah, yes... come in, come in. I wanted to talk to you about something very important..." Mr. Ishida looked up from his desk and clasped his hand in front of his nose after gesturing to his son to come forward.   
  
"What is it you want to talk about, father?" Yamato narrowed his eyes. He didn't trust that sound in his father's voice. //There's definitely something going on here...// he thought and sat on one of the chairs in front of his father's desk.  
  
*. *. *. *. *   
  
Kenichi was in the kitchen, helping the cook with the dinner.   
  
"So... Master Ishida did that..." the cook frowned as he cut the carrots in pieces.   
  
"Yes... I'm pretty much against his wishes..." Kenichi sighed and cut the lettuce.   
  
"Well, it's like a fairy tale if you ask me. Just think about it, master Ishida is becoming a generous man. It's not your every day event that a village girl gets a chance to marry a rich brat like young master there..." the cook snorted and wiggled his eyebrows.   
  
"He's not a brat, Hiroshi... and yeah... it's really not your every day event that a poor girl gets to marry a rich kid..." Kenichi sighed.   
  
"But the master is generous to do that, which means he doesn't look down upon them as if they were his slaves or something..." the cook said and boiled some water after the boiler was filled with water.   
  
"I guess you're right, Hiroshi... the master has become generous all the sudden, maybe I'm just holding strong on to the old master's beliefs..." Kenichi sighed again as he gathered the pieces of lettuce in a plate.   
  
"Pffft... don't even mention that guy... or even compare with him..." The cook snorted.   
  
"I'm sorry... I sure pity young master's fate..." Kenichi sounded miserable and the cook noticed those hints in his voice.   
  
"Stop babying the kid, some day he really has to be independent and become a full-grown man. That can only be achieved once his father leave him his fortune and also when he becomes the father of the new born..." the cook explained.   
  
"YOU WHAT?!!!" A very angry voice echoed through the halls and both Kenichi and the cook looked up.   
  
"The young master isn't taking it in very well..." the cook sighed and peeled the potato.  
  
*.*.*.*.*   
  
"YOU WHAT?" Yamato had pushed his chair away when he heard the news. The fire in his eyes was getting bigger and it seems that his anger had no effects on his father.   
  
"YOU WANT ME TO MARRY THAT GIRL FROM THE THERE? I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU'RE DOING THIS TO ME!! YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE VISITED THEM... YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE ASKED FOR HER HAND. I DON'T EVEN KNOW HER. HOW CAN I MARRY HER? I DON'T EVEN KNOW HOW SHE LOOKS LIKE, FOR CHRIST'S SAKE!!" Yamato shouted and the whole house seemed to be listening to his outburst.   
  
Mr. Ishida was watching his son fume with amusement in his eyes. "I've made myself clear, have I? You can go now, that's all..." Mr. Ishida said.   
  
"FINE" Yamato snapped and stomped out of the room.   
  
He slammed the door close and was walking up and down the hall to his room.   
  
"Who does he think he is? Why did he have to do that to me? He has no right telling me when I should get married... and who do THEY think they are? They're poor! They must have done something to let him ask for their daughter's hand... yeah, that must be it. Father will never refuse a friend's offer, mother once told me... that must be. They're after the money. My fortune! Those rascals! Especially the girl! The B*tch!"[3] Yamato muttered uncontrollably and didn't notice Kenichi watching him from a far.   
  
Yamato slammed the door to his bedroom close and pulled his tie loose. He took off his jacket while muttering a whole lot of curses, aiming them at the family, which his father was telling him about, and he walked up and down in his room. At last he threw himself to the bathroom. He turned on the tab and let stood there in the middle of the shower. The cold liquid slid down his face and quelled his anger, wetting his uniform.   
  
Kenichi had watched Yamato walk to his room and then suddenly to the bathroom. He sighed and clasped his fingers.   
  
"I just hope Mr. Ishida didn't really make the young master's life miserable on purpose..."   
  
*. *. *. *. *  
  
Sora was still under the sheets and suddenly felt something cold creeping through her spine. She shuddered and punched her pillows one last time. She had been screaming in her pillow, punching the pillow, throwing the pillow around for the last few hours and still was angry.   
  
"Life is not fair!" she muttered again and pulled herself out from the cover to get some fresh air. Her face was reddened, but she cared less about that and slumped out of the bed. She felt a little better after fighting miserably against her misery of becoming a wife of a total stranger. She sighed and looked at her reflection in the mirror.   
  
"Hey there... I guess I can't be you after all..." she said softly and noticed her eyes were red. She wiped the tears away and took a few deep breaths.   
  
"I guess they're right. I am going to reach my marriageable age soon... and that man was so generous to pay for us, so I've to make the best out of this one here. No matter how ugly my soon-to-be husband will be..." she shrugged in front of the mirror and felt a little better.  
  
. . .   
  
End chapter 1  
  
Author's notes:  
  
1: That school doesn't exist. I just picked out a name -_-.  
  
2: :D didn't really mean to, but he was shocked remember? Poor guy, I made him look like klutz, huh? Put those guns away, please... AND the knives... AND the ropes. No need to punish me for this chapter. XD  
  
3: Uh... I really didn't mean to put those names in here, but I guess a *really* angry Yamato can say what he wants ^_^'.  
  
::pant:: Now that was a looong chapter.  
  
::sweatdrop:: Too much blue -_-' really too much blue in his room. And I love it ^-^' and uh... I didn't even mention what is his name earlier. This chapter is much more longer than the first one ^-^', gee... Sora was supposed to be the main character here, but anyways the first chapter there was just a prologue.  
  
Anyways, I've no idea why I also want to make him popular like most fanfics do -_- and it's really not a good picture if I've to make him look ugly... don't even dare take out your knives or guns! I said don't even take them out!! And I mean it! I'm not bashing you fans, but you get the picture, right? There's no way I'm going to make him look ugly unless he asked for it or unless he has to become a monster or something -_-.   
  
ARGH! I'll stop babbling, on to chapter 2 : P  
  
=^_^=cin 


	3. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own these characters. They're not mine. Only the fic belongs to me, but not the characters Oh, I forgot something to tell you guys Kenichi, Hiroshi, Mr. Takenouchi, Mrs. Takenouchi, Mr. Kanzaki and Mr. Ishida are my own characters. Sora and Yamato's parents aren't from the anime. End of story!   
  
Taste of life  
  
chapter 2  
  
by: Nekocin  
  
Author's notes:   
  
Well here's chapter 2, just hope it does get along with the other chapters ^-^'  
  
// ... // thoughts  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
The boy slowly opened his eyes and found himself shivering. The water was still running down his body and it seemed that he'd fallen asleep while cooling himself down. Yamato reached for the tab as he staggered to stand up straight. How long has he been sitting there? It seems like days... now he feels the cramps in his feet. He walked to the bathroom door, fussing his wet hair a bit and laid his hand on the handle. His eyes were cloudy and his face was pale. Yamato waited in front of the door and a thin smile was plastered on his face. A small smile, a smile that meant something was up. He has something in his mind and he's definitely not changing them.   
  
Kenichi walked up and down in the hall and ran up the stairs a few times. He was worrying sick about the young master. Kenichi ran his fingers through his gray bangs and mumbled something under his breath. His eyes caught the sight of a puddle of water which ended near the young master's bedroom. Kenichi grabbed a few towels and burst into the young master's room.   
  
"Young master!"   
  
Yamato had thrown himself on to his bed without changing his wet clothes and was already asleep.   
  
"Young master, wake up! You've to dry yourself or you'll catch a cold..." Kenichi panicked as he shook the young master. He noticed a very strange smile on the boy's face and frowned.   
  
"Kids these days..." Kenichi muttered and wrapped the towels on the young master's wet hair. He began fussing the boy's hair repeatedly, trying to dry the wet hair.   
  
"MMmffff... what are you doing?" Yamato snapped suddenly as he felt his hair was being dried by a fresh towel.   
  
"Drying your hair, sir. Go change into dry clothes before you catch a cold" Kenichi said while throwing the towel in a basket for the laundry.   
  
"Fine fine fine..." Yamato muttered and climbed out of his bed. He head to his dressing-room after grabbing some dry clothes along.   
  
"Kenichi! When is that girl going to marry me?" Kenichi frowned and wondered what's with the young master.   
  
"I don't know, sir. You have to ask your father when you're having supper, sir..." was the answer.   
  
A few awkward minutes passed as Kenichi pondered if the young master was really not bothered by his father's future plans of getting him married to a stranger.   
  
"Can you get me the circus ringmaster?" Kenichi heard Yamato calling, snapping out of his thoughts and frowned again.   
  
"The circus ringmaster? What for, sir?"   
  
"Just do it, Kenichi..." Yamato ordered as he came out, wearing a careless unbuttoned white shirt and a pair of black trousers.   
  
"Yes, young master..." Kenichi tried to restrain his voice from getting nervous and went out of the room.   
  
A smirk was plastered on Yamato's face and a very dark gleam appeared in his eyes.   
  
"She's coming here and then will just go back next minute," Yamato muttered with a smirk, his face darkened and he grinned evilly.   
  
"That b*tch will never stand me. And it feels SO good when this thing popped into head. Why haven't I thought about that before I snapped at father dear..." Yamato rubbed his chin and stretched his arms. "Better get Taichi over as my witness..."   
  
*.*.*.*.*  
  
Mr. Takenouchi looked up when his daughter walked up to him. Her eyes seemed clouded and colorless. From the dark bags under her eyes he could tell she'd cried and wondered what she wanted to request.   
  
"Sora... I..." he wanted to break the awkward silence in the room while his wife watched them from the small kitchen next to the living room.   
  
"It's all right, father. I guess that's how my life should be... marrying a stranger. I'm not stopping you, father... if it's your choice that I should marry him because uncle had asked then so be it. Tell me what I should do..." Sora said softly and she felt the stinging feeling again in her eyes.   
  
Both her parents were dumbfounded and looked at each other for a while. She meant it? She's really going to marry that rich guy? Where are the stubborn protests?  
  
Mr. Takenouchi rubbed his temples and frowned.   
  
"Are you sure...?" he asked carefully, trying to find any signs of anger in her clouded eyes. She nodded slowly and glanced at her mother.   
  
"When must I leave?" her parents looked surprised. They weren't expecting that question so soon.   
  
"Just over a few days, my friend needs to prepare himself for your arrival... Why did you ask?"   
  
"I just..."   
  
"That's not an answer, young lady..."   
  
"Sora? Where is the Sora we know?" her father snapped. Sora doesn't seem to be affected by his anger and pointed at her room.   
  
"In the mirror. In her own world..." Sora said, her eyes wandering around. "What must I do to become a dutiful wife, mother?" she glanced at her mother.   
  
*.*.*.*.*  
  
"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Back up! Back up! Don't touch that! No! Keep your hands away from that! No! Please don't do this!" Taichi said as he was walking backwards.   
  
"Oh come on... just say yes and everything will be fine. All you've got to do is be my witness when this girl comes and then leaves. Just say yes, it's easy... I do all the work while you're my witness when father ask me those stupid questions...or else..."   
  
Taichi shuddered when he watched a very crazy-looking Yamato was approaching him with a big vase in his hand. "Yama... why are you doing this?" Taichi tried to restrain his voice from talking rubbish.   
  
"I just do it. I wonder why I haven't thought about it before I snapped at father. I really could have told him that the marriage was fine... Come on, just say yes and have a sleepover at my house... just tell your parents you're at my house, studying... or whatever is necessary. You're my best buddy, right?" Yamato smirked again as the dark gleam in his eyes was deepening its way down through his blue eyes.   
  
Taichi noticed the gleam and wondered what has gotten into his friend.   
  
"Look, Yamato... I agree with you that marrying at this kind of age is stupid, especially with a village girl, but what can we do about it? Your old man had already made his choice and there's nothing we can do about it to change his mind... not you not me... no one, unless you're some kind of king who's going to abolish that rule... So... please don't do this. Put it down, please..."   
  
Taichi tried to reason with his friend and wanted to take the vase from his friend's possession. Yamato backed away and shook his head.   
  
"No way... I'm not giving it back unless you agree to be my witness and watch the fun..."   
  
"Fun? You're threatening me, Yama... you're going to get me killed when my parents find out that their most precious one hundred year old vase is broken... just put it down. It's no fun when you're putting me in deep shit while you watch the girl suffer... so put that vase down" Taichi begged and tried to take the vase in his hands.   
  
"Nu-uh, your answer first..." Yamato grinned.   
  
Gosh, he wants to grab an eraser and erase that goofy smile away from his friend's face it doesn't suit him one bit. If he doesn't put that vase down RIGHT now he's really going to hit him on the head! His friend has lost his senses. He's crazy!   
  
Taichi felt defeated and sighed. "Okay. Okay. Okay... fine, I'll go" was the answer.   
  
A real smile creped out and Yamato's eyes lit up. "Really?"   
  
"YES, NOW PUT THE DAMN VASE BACK WHERE YOU'VE TAKEN IT!" Taichi snapped.   
  
"Sure. Sure. No problem, BUDDY!" Yamato grinned sheepishly and head for the living room.   
  
"Pffft... whatever..." Taichi rolled his eyes and rubbed his temples. "Since when did Yama become the devil himself?"   
  
A clanging noise echoed through the halls and Taichi froze.   
  
His face reddened and yelled "ISHIDA YAMATO! WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY VASE?" Taichi rushed into the living room and found the vase on its rightful place. Yamato was just brushing some imaginary dirt off from the vase and looked up, looking innocent at his friend.   
  
"Hm? Did you call me?"   
  
"What was that crashing sound?" Taichi asked, anger forgotten.   
  
"Kitchen" Yamato answered and stuck his hands in his pockets.   
  
"So, get your stuff. Don't forget to pack your favorite you-know-what collection, Taichi..."   
  
//Oh no, not that voice...// Taichi shivered when he heard Yamato talk about his secret collection in that kind of voice. It meant Yamato was really making a lot of plans for the near future. Which is not good. Definitely not good.   
  
*.*.*.*.*   
  
"A circus? What does he want now?" Mr. Ishida asked when Kenichi told him about the young master's strange request.   
  
"I do not know, sir. But it seems like there's something going on in that little head of the young master after he was in the shower a few hours ago..." Kenichi answered firmly.   
  
"I see..." Mr. Ishida rubbed his chin and nodded slowly as if he was getting the picture.   
  
"Should I go ask for the ringmaster now, sir?" Kenichi asked carefully.   
  
"Go ahead..." was Mr. Ishida's answer, surprising Kenichi. He wasn't expecting that answer, it was actually the furthest answer in his mind and now he wondered what were both his masters thinking right now.   
  
"Yes, sir... I'll take my leave, sir"   
  
Kenichi turned around, but stopped when Mr. Ishida called him.   
  
"Kenichi, while you're on your way there... go buy some fresh roses for me..." A smile was plastered on Mr. Ishida's face and Kenichi narrowed his eyes.   
  
Something was definitely going on in both his masters' heads. "As you wish, sir..." Kenichi said and left the room.  
  
"He must be planning for a 'Welcome to the family Ishida' show to his soon-to-be wife, Takenouchi Sora... how thoughtful of him." Mr. Ishida grumbled as a sneer appeared on his straight face. He looked down at his papers and read the lines a few times:  
  
You're my sun, you give me strength  
  
you're my sun, you give me warmth [1]  
  
you're my heaven, the darkness is driven away  
  
you're my sky, you protect me in your shield of life [2]  
  
Mr. Ishida was writing an unfinished poem and rubbed his temples. He took a deep breath and leaved through thick books with a lot of poems and also a dictionary. He scribbled down a few lines and was lost in his own work.  
  
*.*.*.*.*  
  
Kenichi walked down the halls and ran his fingers through his bangs. "If this marriage is really going to happen I've to remind myself to keep a distance from young master... the poor girl will have to stand her soon-to-be husband on her own..."   
  
"KENICHI! PREPARE A ROOM FOR MY FRIEND HERE!!!"   
  
Kenichi almost had a heart-attack when the loud order echoed through the halls.   
  
"Wha...?" He turned around and watched as his young master approached with his friend.   
  
A grinning Yamato was dragging a bored-looking Taichi along the way upstairs.   
  
"He's going to stay here..." Yamato grinned.   
  
"Hey" Taichi greeted with a small smile, not his usual happy smirk... just a smile with no meaning. He had his bag over his shoulder and Kenichi noticed that the boy had also brought his secret collection along. Kenichi nodded to the boy and looked at Yamato.   
  
"Sir... you know your fa..."   
  
"No no no no, Kenichi. I'll talk to father about having Taichi here..." Yamato grinned and Taichi shivered again.   
  
He sighed and looked expectantly at Kenichi. "Follow me, young master Yagami..." Kenichi gestured to Taichi, who nodded.   
  
Yamato went into his room and both Kenichi and Taichi heaved a sigh of relief.   
  
"Yama is very creepy today..." Taichi commented.   
  
"You know about his marriage?" Kenichi looked at Taichi.   
  
"Yes... Yama threatened me to come over just to be his witness or something like that. He said it has something to do with surprising the new bride of his..." Taichi sighed again.   
  
"You?" Kenichi frowned and Taichi shook his head.   
  
"No... It's something else...He doesn't take his marriage well, does he?"   
  
"Aa... that's how the young master is. I really pity him because of his fate..."   
  
"Nah... forget about that. I'm sure once he's married he doesn't have to be run over by millions of girls who want to become his girlfriend or something... hey! Why haven't I thought about that before? If he's married, the girls will no longer bother him and I'll no longer have to save his ass like always. The only problem is... is that I just hope the girl isn't really a squealing pig like the others are..." Taichi said suddenly and sniggered.   
  
"O...kay..." Kenichi looked at the sniggering teenager and sweatdropped.   
  
"Kids nowadays..." he muttered under his breath, while listening to Taichi babbling about IF his friend was getting married then the girls will stop bothering him, stop squealing his name, stop their puppy-dog looks etcetera.  
  
*.*.*.*.*  
  
Yamato looked at himself in the mirror and smirked evilly.   
  
"Gosh, you're so damn sexy and so damn clever that I really want to kiss you!" [3] He ran his fingers through his bangs and stuck his tongue out to his reflection.   
  
"Not in a million years! No way I'm giving you a kiss!" He snorted and fussed his hair.   
  
"Stupid... this is crazy. Since when did I start talking to myself while looking at the mirror... Ugh, better get these plans ready before I forget them. Where's the darn ringmaster I was asking for..."   
  
"Young master, the ringmaster is here as you requested! He's downstairs waiting for you, sir" someone knocked on the door and Yamato's eyes lit up. He clapped his hands and straightened his clothes.   
  
"GREAT! Tell him I'll be right there!" He wanted to run out of the room, but stopped. He turned around to take one last look at the mirror and smirked.   
  
"Am I great or what? Well, I'm better than you" Yamato ran out of the room and head down the stairs.   
  
Mr. Ishida looked up when he heard his son running down the stairs.   
  
"So... the ringmaster is already here?..." he said under his breath and bit on his feather.   
  
"What comes along with wave..." He wondered and leaved through his dictionaries.   
  
...  
  
End chapter 2  
  
Author's notes:  
  
1: Uhm.. These two sentences come from a song, which had won an award in 2001. The title is Yu na mi son' which means "You're my sun". It's a beautiful song in my opinion, but too bad you guys can't listen to it -_-.   
  
2: I made them up. Strange, huh? ^-^'  
  
3: Ehehehe... it's not going to be shounen-ai. I just put that there to make Yamato look like a real *nut head* for no apparent reason ^-^' soooo... put those darn forks away or any sharp objects. I really don't want to get throttled by you all ^-^' I just love to write something ^_^.  
  
uhhhh...: Did I say that I was going to change it into a yaoi or yuri fic? ^-^' You misunderstood, I meant I like reading those kind of things, but either way is not bad. I'm quite open minded all the sudden, but not TOO open to accept most hentai stuff if you know what I mean ^-^. Well... it's sort of. I've already mentioned I got inspired from my History class, so you can say it's like that. I think in chapter 1 I'm kinda messing up the time. Thanks for the review.  
  
Aileen: Yeah, that's his name. But since the pairing is *SORATO*, where can you find the *TO* then from Yamato? I hope I didn't really confuse you with his yelling. Thanks for the review.  
  
Sam: Really? I'm glad you liked chapter 1 too ^-^. Nope, I'm not that quick with updates. It really depends in which month I am. This month I have my exams and just today I happened to finish this fic right after school because I wanted to keep those ideas away from my head. I'd started this fic just yesterday March 05, 2003. You don't have to be jealous; I'm still stuck with the other fanfics of mine. Thanks for the review again ^-^. What do you mean with Bleah?   
  
HUGESoratofan: ^-^' Err... thanks for the quick note and the review ^-^' I really didn't think about that enemy thing between those two, but it seems my fic is kinda deceiving me -_-' Anyways, thanks for the review.  
  
I: Thanks for the review ^-^! Glad you liked it ^-^.  
  
::clears throat and stretches arms:: Okaaay... that was chapter 2 ^-^. I've a few awkward/ new/ crazy ideas for the next few chapters, thanks to my classes again ^-^' [Biology and Arithmetic]. I thought about writing more plot... well at least that's what I think I'm doing, right? ^_^ So, aren't you guys wondering about Taichi's secret collection? Or what is Yamato planning? And other stuff...? I hope I didn't really confuse you guys there. Okay, I'll work on chapter 3 ^-^. Just hope this one had made some sense.   
  
=^_^=cin 


	4. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I don't own these characters. They're not mine. Only the fic belongs to me, but not the characters [Oh, I forgot something to tell you guys Kenichi, Hiroshi, Mr. Takenouchi, Mrs. Takenouchi, Mr. Kanzaki and Mr. Ishida are my own characters. Sora and Yamato's parents aren't from the anime.] End of story!   
  
Taste of life  
  
chapter 3  
  
by: Nekocin  
  
Author's notes:   
  
Sam: Sorry for taking sooo long with the Sorato introduction. Thanks for the review and ... ::gasps:: Nooo! XD You've used the puppy eyes ^_^'  
  
Rizza426: ^-^' Well, that's how I've portrayed him. So he's kinda OOC, but since this is an AU no one can stop me from writing how he WILL become! Like in this chapter :D He's evil!!! VERY VERY evil IMAO! : P. ^-^' Sorry, didn't mean to tell you what's going to be in this chapter.. Thanks for the review.  
  
Venursia: I hope I've already answered both your questions here ^_^. Do you really have a lot of questions in mind? I suppose I've already seen that coming... -_- since I'm taking this fanfic a little slooooow.  
  
Anyways, I think if you want some answers you have to read the upcoming chapters too ^-^. Thanks for the review.  
  
Icey Nightshade: ^-^' Hehehehe... Was he really that scary/mad? I really didn't mean to make him like that on purpose, hence the short notice that fans shouldn't come stabbing me when I'm not even in the middle of my fic to explain why he's... @_@ weird/mad. ^-^' He WILL become normal... but not yet_ oh, shoot, I'll stop chattering before all my plans are on this notice ^-^. You just have to wait for the next few chapters... and thanks for the quick review ^_^.   
  
Here's chapter 3 and sorry for taking sooo long with the introduction. Here's where the SORATO come in. The one you've all been waiting for, am I right? :D TADAAA!  
  
::crosses fingers:: hope it's good or NOT THAT BAD.  
  
// ... // thoughts  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Kenichi watched as Yamato was preparing himself to receive the 'new guest' in their house. He had noticed that Yamato was practically acting normal the whole morning when he woke up. The boy was doing his usual routines like waking up late, grumbling around and then getting a bath before heading down for breakfast.   
  
The mysterious aura which he had been giving off was suddenly... gone? Or was it just tensing up? What happened to those creepy grins and that freaky voice changing tone of the young master? Was he battling himself inwardly or something? Taichi was also preparing himself, but was actually the only one besides Mr. Ishida who's thrilled that the day when Yamato's soon-to-be wife is coming over.   
  
"Kenichi! Are the roses ready?" Kenichi snapped out of his thoughts when Mr. Ishida called him.   
  
"YES, SIR! They're in the hall...!" Kenichi answered and noticed Yamato was frowning.   
  
"Roses? What are they for?" Yamato asked and Kenichi simply shrugged.   
  
"Master had asked for red roses... maybe trying to please the girl..."   
  
"Oh..." was Yamato response and mumbled something under his breath. Kenichi didn't ask what he'd said and gave Yamato his jacket.   
  
"YAMA! Are you ready?" Taichi shouted and burst into the room.   
  
"Sure... It's show time, my friend..." Yamato grinned and Taichi's smile fell.   
  
"Huh?"   
  
"You know..." Yamato brushed past Kenichi and dragged Taichi along.   
  
*.*.*.*.*  
  
A carriage was heading into the Ishida estates grounds. That's no doubt, the carriage that was sent by Mr. Ishida to pick Sora up early that morning. Sora's parents couldn't really bear letting their daughter go, but they gave in when Sora didn't cry out in frustration. They'd noticed she was spacing herself out and some time ago they'd caught her smiling strangely when there was really nothing to smile about.   
  
"We're here, Miss Takenouchi..." someone knocked on the roof of the carriage and her eyes shot open. She must have fallen asleep while they were heading to Ishida's mansion.   
  
"What?" she looked confused and stuck her head out of the window.   
  
"WELCOME! WELCOME!" A loud and deep voice startled her and almost fell over the window. She'd luckily regained her balance and stepped out of the carriage.   
  
She looked at the small crowd who were obviously receiving her.   
  
"How was your ride, miss Takenouchi? I hope it wasn't THAT bad since you were always used to going on foot, right?" The man with a cheesy grin in front of her said and she shook her head.   
  
"Erhm... right, let me introduce myself... I'm Mr. Ishida, your father's childhood friend..."   
  
"It's nice meeting you, sir. I'm Takenouchi Sora." Sora responded politely. //So this is Mr. Ishida...// She narrowed her clouded eyes and observed the man. He was around his forties or fifties, but seemed to be in a good shape. He had a few gray hair and was neither too slim nor too fat.   
  
"And this is my son Ishida Yamato..." Mr. Ishida snapped her out of her thoughts as he gestured to the boy with the piercing blue eyes. He gave her a nod and pouted suddenly. Sora blinked a few times... what happened? Was the boy a little... uhm... crazy?   
  
Mr. Ishida had given his son a glare when Yamato didn't make a move to step forward or something. He just nodded, which is surprisingly quite impolite in Mr. Ishida's opinion. One shouldn't greet the young lady like that after all.   
  
Yamato pouted. Damn his father. Why can't he just distance himself from the girl? She seems so plain... normal with his greeting. He sighed inwardly and felt defeated by his father again.   
  
He walked forward to the confused-looking Sora and groaned inwardly... the girl is an airhead. He's going to marry an air headed person! The fury is heating up inside him and before he knew it, he'd cleared those thoughts away and grinned unsuspected... he noticed Taichi froze when he saw the grin on his face. He couldn't care less about what Taichi's going to complain.   
  
"Ishida Yamato" he said bluntly and extended his hand.   
  
Sora smiled, her eyes weren't picking up her smile and just stared at the boy in front of her.   
  
//This is bad... he looks older than me...// [1] she groaned inwardly and accepted the handshake.   
  
"Well then..." Mr. Ishida cleared his throat after their hands were quickly pulled away.   
  
A sneer was formed on Yamato's lips, but Sora didn't notice the dark looks she was getting from the other boy.   
  
"Yagami Taichi! I'm Yama's best friend!" came the cheerful answer and the boy stepped forward. He bowed down dramatically, ignoring the horrid looks he was getting from his best friend [2].   
  
What the hell is his friend doing?!! They had been practicing for this day and he just came out of nowhere making a move to his soon-to-be wife.   
  
//At least this one isn't that tense as Mr. Ishida's son...// Sora thought and returned a little bow.   
  
"Kenichi here is our butler, Hiroshi here is our cook..." Mr. Ishida gestured to the two men.   
  
Sora noted that Kenichi must have been working for the Ishida family for quite a long time. He could have been her father or so to say, because the gray bangs matched her father's hair.   
  
Kenichi bowed slightly and smiled. She noticed the sad gleam in his dark eyes and wondered if he was getting tired of working as the head servant. Hiroshi on the other hand was just as cheerful-looking as Taichi and grinned. He bowed slightly too and grinned again. The cook must be quite eager for her arrival... why... she didn't know.   
  
A few younger-looking servants were being introduced and they seemed to be the only ones who weren't aware of the tension which was rising. They'd greeted the 'new guest' cheerfully, more cheerfully than Taichi. Sora had to admit she liked these servants, they were joking around, pushing each other playfully... ignoring the glares they were receiving from both their masters and Kenichi.   
  
It seems like a boring introduction to Taichi. He'd noticed that all along. Everyone was really tensing up when they'd met the girl. She was just as creepy as his friend Yamato, because she was giving them the ghostly smile and those colorless eyes. He shuddered when he compared those two together, but was surprised that the mysterious aura around her was gone as soon as she met those goofy servants.   
  
He blinked a few times and wondered... what had happened? He shrugged. He just hoped that Mr. Ishida isn't going to fire them because of their goofy behaviour in front of the girl. Besides she doesn't seem THAT bad for a young bride... Ugh... he has to clear those thoughts RIGHT now, before his Yamato is going to kill him.   
  
Kenichi watched as the girl was led by one of the new servant girls who was going to be serving Sora from then on. He had to admit that she must have had a rough time too. Getting married at this age... now he pitied the girl also.   
  
Then it hit him when he'd almost forgotten that the young master had something in his mind a few days ago. That creepy grin appeared on the young master's face and vanished.   
  
Kenichi frowned... did those two boys meant about this time? The show... or something? He wondered and followed the others after their masters went into the house first.   
  
"She doesn't seemed to be THAT bad as I've imagined..." one of the servants snapped Kenichi out of his thoughts and glanced at the young servants, who were hoping to get a comment from their head servant about Sora.   
  
"I'm sure she's just in her shell once she got here. She must be not used to living in a stranger's house... who can blame her? In my opinion she seems a little_ disturbed about the whole thing here." Hiroshi admitted as he went back to his daily chores.   
  
Kenichi watched them chatter away and rubbed his chin before rubbing his temples again. How is he going to describe her? Creepy? Normal? Strange? Air headed? Disturbed... any more words? Now he has to worry about what the young master was ACTUALLY planning to do. He spotted the big bush of red roses and gasped.   
  
"We forgot to give her the roses!!" he grabbed the flowers and rushed up the stairs, heading towards the guestroom in which Sora was staying.   
  
*.*.*.*.*   
  
"It's time..." Yamato suddenly grinned when both he and Taichi hid themselves in Yamato's room. Yamato was playing with his tie and walked up and down nervously. Taichi was watching him walk from one place to another and sighed.   
  
"When is she going to notice it...?"   
  
"Yama... I don't really think it's a good idea to..."   
  
"It hasn't started yet and you already think it's a bad idea. Of course it's a good idea! She's worst what I've in mind. I thought she would just be a plain normal village girl wearing weird clothes and stuff... but it seems she's worst. She's an airhead! I can tell! She's really and air head!" Yamato poked his index finger on his friend's chest.   
  
Taichi winced. "I think she's... different. I mean... when I looked at her, I've noticed she's just as troubled as you are. She's even given me that weird smile when you threatened me to become your witness... why don't you give her a chance or something?"   
  
"Great! Now you're siding HER. How many times must I tell you that she's after my money!! What kind of friend are you?!" Yamato spat,   
  
Taichi noticed his face was reddening of anger. "Calm down, calm down Yama... okay, okay, okay... I'll just wait and watch what will happen. And if anything goes wrong, you've really no way out."   
  
Taichi sighed.   
  
"Hey! What happened to the roses?" Taichi wondered. Taichi raised an eye brow and shrugged. "It's really not going to please her, I guess..."   
  
*.*.*.*.*   
  
Sora's new room was quite twice the size of her own trusted bedroom. It had beautiful red curtains and a king-size bed with light red bed sheets. //How did he know I like red?// she thought to herself and studied her new room. It has a big wardrobe with a lot of beautiful dresses.   
  
"Too beautiful to wear" she muttered under her breath and looked at the balcony next to her room. What's the hissing sound doing in this picture she wondered. That sound had been disturbing her as soon as she was observing her room.  
  
She leant over to look how high she was and how big the Ishida's lands were. A gasp escaped from her mouth and looked at the wonderful landscape in front of her. You can practically watch the sunset from her balcony. Sora spotted a beautiful exotic garden and smiled.   
  
"They have a really beautiful garden..." She turned her glance back to her room when she heard a knock on her door.   
  
Kenichi was panting in front of her and gave her the big bush of roses.  
  
"This is for you... as a welcome gift..." he gasped a few times for fresh air and breathed heavily. Sora blinked a few times and accepted the roses.   
  
"Please come in..." she gestured to him and side stepped to let him pass.   
  
"Oh no... Miss Takenouchi... I've to go back to work... and the young master might not like it that..." Kenichi said quickly.   
  
"Figures... because I'm younger than him..." Sora rolled her eyes as she put the roses on a nearby chair.   
  
"What?" Kenichi blinked, confused about her answer and wondered if she actually knew what she was talking about.   
  
Before he knew it, Sora had passed a cup of tea in his hands.   
  
"Here... this might help. It's really not a good idea that you've to run down the halls just to give me these roses. I really appreciate it that you really have come all this way here... thank you" Sora smiled. Kenichi noticed a real smile was plastered on her face; her eyes were getting the actual color again.   
  
She couldn't help but take Kenichi as her father... the same old appearances; almost the same attitudes even though she'd just met him. Even if she's in a new strange world, she felt herself relax around Kenichi.   
  
Kenichi looked confused at her and accepted the cup. //There's something about her... what is missing in this picture?// he wondered. Kenichi felt a shiver coming up over his spine. Was the young master planning about something nasty to Sora? And what is that hissing sound...  
  
Sora watched Kenichi drink his cup slowly and can't help but smile.   
  
"May I ask you a question, sir?" she asked nervously, while playing with her fingers. "Yes, my lady... and please call me Kenichi, everyone does..." Kenichi responded and looked up at the nervous-looking girl.   
  
"H-h-how did Mr. Ishida know that I love the color red? Everything here in this room is practically red... I haven't really met him before, so how...?" Kenichi was silent for a while and looked around. The whole room was really red.   
  
"I don't know, my lady... he'd just ordered us to put red curtains, red sheets, red tapestries and some red dresses in here... and the roses were actually my master's idea. While the young master had asked for the ringmaster and..." Kenichi quickly clamped his hand over his mouth.   
  
Sora looked confused at Kenichi and looked at the roses. Then it hit her... what about that secret admirer of hers? She pulled on the tag and was surprised that it contained a poem also.   
  
//It must be a coincidence...//   
  
Something moved under the red sheets of her new bed and it caught Sora's attention. She frowned and blinked a few times. It looked as if her bed sheets were moving... that couldn't be.   
  
Kenichi froze when he caught the sight of something moving under the sheets. He narrowed his eyes to take a better look. He wanted to take a look at what was under the sheets, but Sora had beaten him to it.   
  
She pulled the covers away and her face paled. Her eyes widened and she gasped. This caught Kenichi off guard and gasped also. Sora shrieked and threw the sheets back. Both Kenichi and Sora jumped backwards... the hissing sound was getting louder. A head appeared from under the sheets and the eyes narrowed at the sight of the two beings in front of it.   
  
Both Kenichi and Sora gasped as soon as they saw the head coming out from under the bed sheet. Their hearts were throbbing madly as they backed away. More small heads appeared and tongues making that hissing noise. So that's where the hissing came from...   
  
"W-w-what are those snakes doing there?" Sora managed to get that answer out of her mouth.   
  
"I-I-I have no idea... my lady..." He eventually understood what was going on.   
  
"The young master!" he gasped, not even paying attention as Sora approached the snakes carefully. She shuddered a few times as she approached them, feeling the goose bumps and her hair on her neck was standing on end. She had to get rid of those snakes...   
  
"My lady! What are you doing?!" Kenichi called. One of the snakes shot forward, fangs ready to bite someone and was heading towards Sora's arm...  
  
*.*.*.*.*  
  
Yamato was grinning. The creepy gleam was getting bigger in his eyes. He began to laugh maniacally as his friend Taichi sweatdropped.   
  
"What's up with you?"   
  
"Haven't you been listening?" Yamato grinned, Taichi shuddered when he caught Yamato's gaze.   
  
"The shriek..." Yamato began to laugh again.   
  
//This is really not good// Taichi thought to himself and he was getting worried already. What if his friend is really going to get crazy all the sudden? What if he's really out of his mind after that news... he IS actually out of his mind RIGHT now. The creepy aura is enveloping the usual Yamato he'd known for years. The news MUST have shocked his poor friend... and what about the girl?  
  
....  
  
End chapter 3  
  
Author's notes:  
  
1: There's nothing wrong with this thought here XP  
  
2: Uhm... It's still going to stay SORATO in the end. So it's not going to be confusing.  
  
::gasps:: I can't believe I'm turning the whole thing all the way around : That's NOT a good sign! I mean this fic is supposed to be Sora centric and then Yamato centric or whatever they call it. And gee... I'm kinda rushing, huh? I'm sorry for the rush. And I really don't like this whole plot...-_- it seems a little_bad. I've really tried to make the encounter a little tensing... but not really threatening. It's quite impolite to do so -_-, that's why this chapter is kinda_ weird-_- and uptight. I'll try my best next chapter! I hope you're not losing interest in my first Digimon fanfic here.  
  
=^_^=cin 


	5. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I don't own these characters. They're not mine. Only the fic belongs to me, but not the characters [Oh, I forgot something to tell you guys Kenichi, Hiroshi, Rika, Mr. Takenouchi, Mrs. Takenouchi, Mr. Kanzaki and Mr. Ishida are my own characters. Sora and Yamato's parents aren't from the anime.] End of story!   
  
Taste of life  
  
chapter 4  
  
by: Nekocin  
  
Author's notes:   
  
I'm quite sorry for being sooo late with this chapter, since I'm quite occupied with exams -_- Anyways... Heck it's quite strange that after doing one exam I've great ideas for the following chapters ^_^;;; today happened to be English exam -_-'  
  
Here's chapter 4. This chapter might be confusing too.  
  
Rizza426: Well... you just have to read this chapter if Sora's either bitten or not bitten. It seems that these characters are kinda OOC, -_- I should've known that Yamato was quite a major OOC in my fic since everyone seems to find him freaky -_-' He's actually supposed to be like that in this fic of mine ^_^' but I'll assure you that everything is going to be fine... and a little confusing too. Thanks for reviewing ^_^.  
  
// ... // thoughts  
  
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"My lady! What are you doing?!" Kenichi called. One of the snakes shot forward, fangs ready to bite someone and was heading towards Sora's arm. Sora was shocked and felt herself paralyzed all the sudden. The snake shot forward to her arm and she shrieked again. Kenichi looked horrified and gasped as soon as he looked at his arm.   
  
"Mr. Kenichi!!" Sora gasped as she noticed what had happened. Kenichi had pushed her away and was bitten instead. The snake didn't let go as its fangs were deepening themselves into the servant's skin. He stumbled backwards and pulled the damn snake away, gasping for breath.   
  
Sora looked horrified at him and then at the bed. Without a second thought she curled the mattress carefully up and gasped a few times when one of the snakes tried to bite her.   
  
"W-what are you doing, my lady?..." Kenichi said weakly and dropped down on the nearby chair.   
  
"Disposing this thing here! Whoever put them on this bed must be nuts!" Sora spat furiously.   
  
"RIKA!!! GET ME SOME WARM WATER NOW!!!" She called the servant girl. Now she was definitely angry. What kind of people would welcome their guests with poisonous snakes on the bed? It's definitely not funny... Sora tore the big curtains up and began to wrap it around the whole mattress as careful as she could.   
  
After doing that she rushed toward Kenichi who was was holding the arm painfully. Rika gasped when she looked at the bloodied arm and the snake, which had just gotten escaped. She shrieked when the snake approached her. She'd almost dropped the warm water and gasped again when Sora had hit the snake with the table leg continuously [1].   
  
Rika passed Sora, looking horrified and relieved at the same time. "What happened...?" she asked carefully and took one look at the messy room. The curtains were torn away from the windows, the mattress was totally enveloped by the red curtains and what was that hissing sound? Are there more snakes in here? She wondered and looked at the fallen table. Sora had broken the leg just to hit that snake on its head.   
  
"Snakes..." Sora muttered and took a deep breath before heading back to Kenichi's side.  
  
He began to breath heavily and tried his hardest not to fall unconscious. Sora took a good look at the bite wound and sucked the blood up carefully. Kenichi throat went dry when he watched Sora sucking the infected blood out of his veins and than spat it out on the floor. What was she doing? He wondered and watched her tear up a piece of her dress. Rika cleaned his wound and used the piece of cloth as a bandage.   
  
"Where did those snakes come from?" Rika asked and Sora looked at her.   
  
"The question is WHO put them there!" Sora cut in.   
  
"Well... it's definitely not me, my lady" Rika said slowly.   
  
Kenichi looked at his wound for a minute and sighed. "I think it's the young master's doing..."   
  
"The young master? But...why?" Rika wondered and glanced at the mattress.   
  
"I see... " Sora helped Kenichi to stand up and glanced at the mess she'd made.   
  
"It must have been just a prank or something..."   
  
"Please don't mind the young master. He'd been acting very *strange* lately for last few days after the master had talked about the marriage. I mean very very *strange*. He needs time to accept it..." Kenichi said quickly.   
  
"I understand... well, do you need some help with some chores I can help... but after I clean up this mess I've made and thrash those snakes..." Sora smiled brightly for the first time ever since she'd arrived.   
  
"No... no, that's all right. I've enough people around here who can help me" Kenichi said quickly as he held his injured arm.   
  
"Rika, call the others to clean this mess up" Rika nodded and ran out of the room.   
  
"I'll take my leave, my lady" Kenichi said carefully and went out of the room.  
  
Sora heaved a sigh of relief and glanced at the mattress. "THAT wasn't a nice thing to do, Mr. the young master!" she snorted and went to the balcony. "If only..." she said under her breath and looked around.   
  
There were several small balconies above her head and she wondered if she could have a talk with this young master about his *prank*. She picked her dress up and wanted to climb on the shrubs, which were attached to the walls.   
  
"What are you doing, my lady!!" Rika gasped as she pulled her back.   
  
*.*.*.*.*  
  
Yamato was walking down the halls with a smirk on his face while putting his hands in his pockets. Taichi was walking besides him with a big sweatdrop plastered above his head. When will that creepy smile fade Taichi wondered as Yamato began to hum some kind of unknown song... maybe a made up one.   
  
Sometimes he wished he could find some kind of eraser to scrub that damn creepy smile off Yamato's face. Taichi had a mental image of him scrubbing Yamato's smile away with a sponge in mind. It would be so... freaking... funny. But... he can never do that since Yamato is his best friend even if he's freaky.   
  
He dropped his shoulders and wondered about their new guest. //How is she anyways?// he thought worriedly. He just hopes the injuries weren't so bad. Besides it was actually Yamato's idea and he was just dragged into it. He felt guilty all the sudden that Yamato isn't such an open-minded person. He just doesn't trust people so easily and Taichi can't blame him for that.  
  
It was dinnertime and so they went to the dinner hall.   
  
"I'm quite content..." Taichi heard Yamato talking, probably referring to either him or the servant who was walking beside them. The servant raised an eyebrow, but quickly dismissed his confusion in his thoughts. Maybe the young master was talking to master Yagami.   
  
"I don't know... Yama... I feel quite guilty... I mean I've never really done this before and..." Taichi stammered, trying not to let some offensive words slip by.   
  
"Ah, forget them! It's just one 'THING' then she'll be gone the next time..." Yamato smirked again.   
  
"I wonder how badly she's injured or something..." Taichi said carefully and Yamato's gaze hardened.   
  
"Like you care?" He snorted and head towards the door to the Dinner hall.   
  
"Excuse me, Yama... but I happened to be very open-minded about these stuff and I don't like holding grudges on someone like you AND I happened to believe she's different..." Taichi snapped.   
  
"You like her?" [1] Yamato stopped his tracks and whirled around. He just couldn't believe his eyes when he saw a rosy color creeping out of Taichi's cheeks. So he really liked her... Yamato snorted and held his chin up.   
  
"I guess you do like her... pffft... wouldn't it be easier if I dump her right after our marriage and you can take her to your home or something?" Yamato said while waving his hand around in front of Taichi's face.   
  
"It wouldn't hurt though if you do that,... Yeah right! What if you really falls for her in those two months you two are going to spend here in this house?! HUH? Or what if it's the other way around? You could have hurt someone's feelings..." Taichi snapped sarcastically and the servant looked at both of the boys, wondering what they were discussing and whom they were referring to.   
  
"A bet?" Yamato's eyes stared at Taichi with amusement.   
  
"W-what?"   
  
"A bet... You want to bet if she'll fall for me? Or the other way around?"   
  
Taichi noticed Yamato's eyes were getting darker. So it meant this is serious. "What's the prize?" Yamato smirked and crossed his arms over his chest.   
  
"So you're interested... Tell you what, buddy. Let's have it like if she falls for you, you can have anything you want from me. Just don't be too exaggerate even though it's silly... But still I will win... but if she falls for me and I for her... well... I guess you won. And you can just humiliate me if you want..." Yamato shuddered when he mentioned the last one and crossed his fingers mentally, hoping that he'll not fall for her.   
  
Both Taichi and the servant stared at him with confused eyes. //What the hell is he babbling about? // [2] both of them thought although the other one didn't know that they'd the same thoughts.   
  
"Do you agree?" Yamato smirked, tearing them both back to reality.   
  
"I guess so..." Taichi scratched the back of his head, still digesting Yamato's sudden weird bet.   
  
"Good... so let's go eat. I sure want to see how well my beauties had done their jobs..." Yamato smirked and the dark gleam in his eyes was deepening again. The same creepy smile was on his face as he chuckled silently, making for the door.   
  
Taichi shuddered. Next time he has to be sure with whom he was dealing with if Yamato asks him a favor, Taichi noted mentally. Because this guy here definitely needs to open his mind more often and stop being so... so... mad.   
  
*.*.*.*.*  
  
Everyone looked up when the boys entered the room. Taichi scanned the seated guests... they must be one of those business people with whom Mr. Ishida was dealing all those years.   
  
"Where's she?" Yamato wondered as he took a seat at the other end of the long table. "Still occupied with the snakes..." He chuckled to himself as Taichi just shook his head.   
  
One of these days, Yamato will learn his lesson. Oh, he just can't wait to see that weird Yamato being destroyed by the girl. He just secretly hoped for both bets to succeed. If she were to fall for him, he gets the girl. But if she were to fall for his best friend and either way too... the weird Yamato would be destroyed that instant. Maybe a new Yamato would be born in his soul... a very gentle one.   
  
Taichi shook his head again when he felt the people at the table were staring at him. They must be wondering why he was standing there. He quickly made his way to his seat next to Yamato's and tried to hide his blush.   
  
Before he knew it he was back into his thoughts about a gentle Yamato... Taichi smirked and sure looked forward to that day when a very, very gentle Yamato is going to be born in that body of his best pal. Yamato has too many personalities. He's either lazy, spoiled, rebellious, *nice*... and so on... finally the last one... he's mad. He's a real freak!   
  
"Who are we waiting for, father? Isn't dinner done yet?!" Yamato called, bringing Taichi back to reality.   
  
"We're waiting for Miss Takenouchi of course. And also her parents... I've just invited them to come..." Mr. Ishida smiled patiently. Taichi swore he could see smoke coming out of Yamato's ears as his face was puffed up, making him look like he was pouting.   
  
"Be quick..." Taichi heard Yamato mutter something under his breath and couldn't hear the rest of his curses.  
  
*.*.*.*.*  
  
Sora ran towards the door as fast as she could. Rika was trying to keep up with her new mistress and admired her from afar. The mistress was wearing a half-sleeved dress with contrasting colors of blue. The hems were decorated with gold curls and patterns, obviously forming a string of flowers. The blouse was lightly colored lavender as it wrapped the slim upper body of the new mistress firmly. [3] The mistress was quite interesting... Rika opened the door quickly as it seemed like Sora had just burst into the dinner hall.   
  
Sora was panting and grasped for fresh air. She looked at the curious glances she was receiving and smiled quickly.   
  
"I'm so... sorry... for being late. I had... uhm... something to do..." Sora smiled sweetly with a quick glance at Rika, who was also grasping for fresh air.   
  
"That's okay, my dear. Please take a seat... here" Mr. Ishida waved his hand dismissively and briefly glanced at his son, who stiffened when he mentioned about the seat. He pulled out a chair next to him and patted on it, gesturing her to sit right next to him [4].   
  
Sora smiled and glanced briefly at Yamato. Taichi swore he saw something gleaming in her red eyes and wondered what it meant. Was the eye contact meant for him or Yamato? He glanced at his friend, who had been glaring at the girl for quite a few minutes when she'd entered.   
  
"I don't like her look..." he muttered.   
  
"What?" Taichi frowned as Yamato crossed his arms over his chest.   
  
"I don't like her attitude one bit"   
  
"Yama, you've just met her... how do you know her attitude is unlikable? She just smiled and looked at you..." Taichi's voice trailed off, but felt Yamato wasn't quite paying attention to his words.   
  
"...The snakes missed her..." Yamato hissed angrily when he took one last look at her chatting away with some of his father's business partners.   
  
"Huh?" was Taichi's reaction.   
  
"Don't you see? She'd just taken a bath and her skin seemed all white and soft... and the air around her smells like flowers so she must have taken a real bath... jasmine I believe..." Yamato observed her from afar as Taichi's jaw dropped.   
  
How does he know that? He wondered. That FRIEND of his must have watched her all the way. And how the hell did he know her skin was soft...   
  
"Uhm... Yama... you're not supposed to sound like that..." Taichi whispered as he pinched Yamato's arm.   
  
"Ow! Why did you do that for?!"   
  
Everyone around the table glanced at Yamato's outburst. Taichi felt embarrassed when all the attention was turned to both of them.   
  
Sora's chuckles broke the silence. Mr. Ishida was awe struck and wondered if she was a fallen angel [5]. Yamato dropped his eyes and quickly apologized for his outburst. He spared a glance at the chuckling Sora and clenched his fists underneath the table. She was laughing AT HIM? No one had ever laughed AT him before. Sure he hopes he'll win the bet.   
  
Taichi didn't quite notice his friend's clenched fists, because he was trying to digest the so-called angelic chuckles in his head.   
  
Sora congratulated herself inwardly and grinned mentally without anyone noticing the dark gleam in her eyes, which was creeping out of nowhere. //So he wants to play tough too? We'll see about that son...//  
  
....  
  
End chapter 4  
  
Author's notes:  
  
1: Uhm... I happened to be a real Taiora fan when the series had started, but when I saw the end of second season I was quite surprised that those directors had made a quick switch of partners -_- Sorato in the anime -_-. So don't stab me about this kind of side thing, but I promise it's still going to be SORATO. Only not yet... since I don't really like rushing into character's relationships.  
  
2: ^_^' it will makes sense later on... -_-' but for some reason I don't think it makes sense... it's just like the other way around -_-'. Anyways ^_^ it's supposed to be like that...  
  
3: ::gasps:: I know I suck at describing stuff, describing clothes is quite difficult for me ^_^;;; I really can't picture a perfect dress for her right now -_-'.  
  
4: Well... that's another mystery about Mr. Ishida there... -_-' makes sense, right?  
  
5: I know it's very lame... but it is also needed for the rest of the fic.  
  
Like I said up there... I happened to be a Taiora fan... -_-' maybe next time I'll write a fic about those two together. And uh... sorry about the content here, it sounds a little jumpy or so to say. I'll work on chapter 5 later ^_^  
  
=^_^=cin 


	6. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I don't own these characters. They're not mine. Only the fic belongs to me, but not the characters [Oh, I forgot something to tell you guys Kenichi, Hiroshi, Rika, Mr. Takenouchi, Mrs. Takenouchi, Mr. Kanzaki and Mr. Ishida are my own characters. Sora and Yamato's parents aren't from the anime.] End of story!   
  
Taste of life  
  
chapter 5  
  
by: Nekocin  
  
Author's notes:   
  
Venursia: ^_^ Glad you like it ::blushes:: but I still think it needs some improvement, that's why some chapters are kinda boring -_-'. I'll try writing longer chapters ^_^ Just hope my okaa-san doesn't complain. Anyways, I hope this chapter would turn out good too. Thanks for the review ^_^.  
  
Savoan Locc: Glad you liked it ^_^. Thanks for the quick review! ^_^ And uh... What does loc means ^_^'?  
  
Oookay... I hope this wouldn't screw up. I have a mental image how it will go on and still I'm lacking confidence -_-'. And oops... I've noticed I'd put a number [1] in the first scene of the previous chapter. It's where Sora had hit the snake with a table leg ^_^;; I'll fix it here:  
  
--- 1: Well... my father did it before although it wasn't the table leg. It was some kind iron stick, which you can use to open wooden boxes and stuff. I forgot what it's called ^_^'.  
  
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Yamato grunted and dropped his shoulders as he head towards the long stairs, which lead to his wing. The happy chattering of the guests were muffling behind his back. They sounded like bees in Yamato's mind. Taichi didn't come along since he was busy talking to Sora's parents.   
  
//Traitor! // Yamato would call him next time he sees him.   
  
Taichi definitely wanted to win the bet and might want to make a move right now. All he got to do was ask Sora's parents about her deepest desires or something and he'll just come up with a plan to pair Sora up with his best friend.  
  
Yamato took a deep breath before lifting his feet one at a time to walk up the stairs.   
  
This whole night was a nightmare... maybe not a VERY very bad one. But it was... he saw his father doing things he'd never imagined he would do like... tap dancing?! Where the hell did he learn that?! Was he some kind of a dancer in the past?   
  
Yamato didn't know even if he wanted to know. His father would definitely *not* tell him about his past. He only knew his father loved writing poems and was always behind his desk, writing poetries for a certain someone.   
  
Who? He didn't know. Mr. Ishida was quite secretive with these kind of stuff, it's like _ BACK OFF! THIS IS MY PERSONAL LIFE! _ or something. Yamato ran his fingers through his bangs and adjusted his jacket.   
  
As he walked up the stairs he thought about the dinner. He got this feeling that this Sora was making fun of him. He swore he'd noticed something strange about her. When she'd arrived he knew she looked paler than when she was at dinner that night. The smile, which she kept giving, was enchanting a lot of people, he'd noticed.   
  
//Maybe she's a witch... or a wizard something... I'm superstitious again...// Yamato growled inwardly as tried to push those thoughts of Sora to the back of his head. //No time thinking about her...//   
  
A smile appeared on his face as he walked up every step. He imagined a mental image of himself jumping on those damn thoughts of Sora and buried them with sand. //Plan B then?//  
  
He smirked coolly as he noticed a shadow was moving its way down the halls.   
  
//A thief? Can't be...// He ran up the stairs soundlessly and crouched a little as he followed the stranger. There was something familiar about the stranger. Definitely something familiar... The stranger was walking around in the halls without any candles or lights on.   
  
Yamato tried to keep up with his pace and ... slammed his hand on the stranger's shoulder. He yelped and quickly turned around.   
  
"Young master!" he gasped and clutched the front of his chest.   
  
"Don't do that, young master... " Yamato raised an eyebrow.   
  
"Kenichi? What are you doing here?"   
  
Kenichi was standing in the dark and couldn't make out what the young master's face expressed. He figured the young master must be angry with him.   
  
"I-I'm sorry... young master... I-... something came up and I'd to make sure everything was all right..." Kenichi said quickly was hiding his arm nervously behind his back. Yamato frowned.   
  
"What are you talking about?... Was that why you weren't present at supper?"   
  
"Y-yes, young master..." Kenichi dropped his head and could just feel that the young master was not buying that excuse. He could just feel those cold blue eyes piercing through him. And it really pained him. Yamato rubbed his temples instead of getting annoyed by the long silence.   
  
"Well... why didn't you turn on the lights? It's so dark in here..." He looked around for the switch.   
  
Before Kenichi could stop him, Yamato switched on the lights and turned back to Kenichi, who was still hiding his arms behind his back.   
  
"What's wrong?" Yamato asked as he noticed how uncomfortable Kenichi was trying to hide something from him.   
  
"What have you got there?" Kenichi's face paled and panicked inwardly. If the young master sees his injured arm he will definitely bomb him with thousands of questions and he definitely doesn't want to tell the young master that his plan had failed. But then again... he wasn't really a good liar. He could never lie to Yamato...   
  
"W-well..." Kenichi started as he backed away quickly before Yamato could take a quick look when he stepped forward. "Do you want to hear the good news or the bad news?"  
  
Yamato frowned and wondered what he meant by that. "Uhm... the good news... I think" He crossed his arms in front of his chest and shrugged. Whatever Kenichi was hiding must be very... something.   
  
"...uhm... the snakes were quite poisonous..." Kenichi said softly as he dropped his gaze. The young master would be quite happy with that, right? He'll definitely ask him about what's the result... Yamato's face lit up as the same dark smile planted itself on his face. He's being mischievous again. He imagined himself rubbing his hands and somehow grew horns on either side of his head. //Next will be my tail...// he thought as he grinned.   
  
"And..." Yamato gestured Kenichi to go on. "What has that got to do with you?"   
  
It just doesn't make sense all the sudden. How did he know they were poisonous and also... how did he know there were snakes? Was he some kind of fortune-teller who can see through that white crystal ball and tell what he was planning all those days. Or was he a mind reader?   
  
"Uhm... almost everything..." Kenichi managed to blurt out and stopped hiding his arm. Yamato looked confused as he watched Kenichi retrieved his arm from his back. He noticed a familiar cloth was wrapped around his left arm and wondered what was going on. Kenichi noticed the frown on Yamato's forehead and sighed.   
  
"One of them bit me..." Yamato froze and narrowed his eyes. The horns puffed away in a small smoky cloud. "What?"   
  
"I went to the new mistress room just to give her the red roses. She'd offered me tea and I was wondering what that hissing sound was. The new mistress caught the moving blankets first and found the snakes on her bed... I don't know what she'd wanted to do because she walked forward to do something and one of the snakes wanted to bite her... I pushed her out of the way and the fangs caught my arm instead..." Kenichi explained as he cradled his injured arm.   
  
"That's it?" Yamato narrowed his eyes again.   
  
"The bad news?" Kenichi shook his head and understood why the young master was angry. The task hasn't succeeded...   
  
"No master... the bad news is that... she's the one who'd thrashed the snakes and cared for my injured arm... you see the cloth here, right?"   
  
"How can she be so generous? She's faking it!! She wants to gain your trust!!" Yamato cut in quickly. Kenichi winced as he looked at the reddened face of his young master.   
  
"Don't be so hard on the girl... she'd done nothing to you..." Kenichi tried to defend Sora. That stopped Yamato as he ran his fingers through his bangs again. Actually... Kenichi was right. But then the image with Sora laughing AT him stormed out of nowhere and dropped down on his head. The image faded and Yamato sighed.   
  
"Fine! If you like her so much why don't you help her too instead of waking me up EVERY morning when I've to go to school!" Yamato growled and stomped away before Kenichi could protest.   
  
Kenichi definitely didn't want to leave his position as the only servant who can wake the young master up in the early mornings. The others will never stand him... the young master will make their lives as hell.   
  
Kenichi sighed and cradled his injured arm; at least he'd defended the new mistress for a while.   
  
"AAARGH!!!"   
  
Kenichi shot up and wondered what was wrong.  
  
*.*.*.*.*  
  
Sora smiled as the guests were chattering about their lives and their own children. //It's almost time... I guess. I wonder...// she thought, not really paying attention to the rest of the conversation. The guests didn't know that Sora came from the THERE [1] and so didn't mind telling her about how much money they'd made.   
  
For some reason Sora wasn't quite interested in the business thing since it made her feel sleepy. It was just boring, hearing them ranting and debating each other's companies. She looked around and tried to remember why she was doing this again. //Oh, so he'd left...// Sora's eyes gleamed with amusement and didn't notice that Taichi was approaching her.   
  
"Hey! Who are you looking for?" Sora looked up and frowned. "Excuse me?"   
  
Taichi chuckled and cleared his throat. "Have you heard about the news yet?"   
  
"News?" Sora blinked, kicking herself mentally why she didn't pay attention to some conversations.   
  
"Well, Mr. Ishida and your father had just talked about school... Mr. Ishida is willing to send you to our school and..." [2]   
  
"Your school?" Sora asked in disbelief. If she's going to get married she has to transfer to a rich school!   
  
"Yes... isn't that great? We can do things together which you've never done in your old school!" Taichi beamed.   
  
"Uh... I don't know..." she sounded nervous and she quickly dismissed those nervous thoughts. Besides there was something going to happen that night and she wanted it to be perfect.   
  
"Will you excuse me? I've to go upstairs..." Sora said quickly and flashed him a quick smile. Sora rushed towards her parents and bid them good night. Rika was waiting for her at the door and gasped when her mistress burst out of the hall.   
  
"Well, uh... this isn't good since Yama has different plans now..." Taichi dropped his shoulders.  
  
Outside the hall Sora held up her skirt as both she and Rika were running down the dark halls. "Where is the young master's room?" She asked quickly.   
  
"Follow me..." Rika said, not quite understanding why the new mistress was so interested. Maybe she was kinda liking the young master...   
  
They silently ran up the stairs to Yamato's own wing. //This I got to see...// Sora grinned inwardly and slowed her pace as soon as they made their way to the wing. She gestured Rika to be silent as she crept carefully down the dark halls. She narrowed her eyes and pricked up her ears. She could hear faint voices from the other end of the wing and slowly tried to make out who were talking.   
  
//Bingo! // She grinned inwardly and could make out Kenichi talking to Yamato. The lights flickered on and Sora quickly pressed herself against the walls of the other corner as soon as she'd pushed Rika against the walls too.   
  
"Wha..." she could hear Rika's voice, but quickly hushed to her to keep silent.  
  
She peaked out of the corner and noticed Yamato stomping away. Then...  
  
"AAARGH!!!"   
  
A playful grin appeared on her face and she carefully followed Kenichi, who couldn't sense he was being followed. Rika wondered why the mistress was being... strange... maybe just as strange as Yamato. It quickly hit her when she wondered if this was how they were supposed to be brought together all the sudden. Two strange people... one couple... what a chemistry! A way of imagining those two like that [3].   
  
"What's wrong, young master?" Sora heard Kenichi's concerned voice.   
  
*.*.*.*.*  
  
As soon as Yamato walked down through the door, he felt something fall on top of his head. Sand?! It caught him off guard and shrieked.   
  
"AAARGH!!!"   
  
He stumbled backwards and fell to the ground. The sand was ruining his hair!! He'd just washed it when he was bathing.   
  
"What's wrong, young master?" Kenichi gasped when he saw that Yamato was covered with heaps of sand.   
  
"WHO THE HELL HAD PUT SAND UP THERE?" Yamato shouted angrily as he pushed himself up. He began brushing the dust from his clothes, his hair and face. "UGH! Now I've got to take a bath!!"  
  
  
  
A little note fluttered down on the floor and Yamato frowned. //What the...?// He picked up the note which had a very neat handwriting on it. Yamato frowned and turned the paper around.   
  
~ Hey there! Earth is an element. Snakes crawl around in the earth... get it? [4]~   
  
Yamato ran his fingers through his bangs again and frowned deeper. "Who the heck wrote this? ARGH! Never mind. I'm taking a bath!!" He threw his arms in defeat, throwing the note away and stomped towards the bathroom, leaving Kenichi alone in the halls.   
  
Kenichi looked confused and picked up the letter. He took a look at the letter and frowned. Kenichi looked at the closed doors and wondered if it was from...  
  
At the other end of the hall Sora chuckled inwardly and congratulated herself again. Rika looked worried when she'd heard the young master shout.  
  
....  
  
End chapter 5  
  
Author's notes:  
  
1: They referred it to the village.  
  
2: Aa... finally got this one here ^_^ Yamato is going to be very bad, I know.  
  
3: I believe my sentence here is kinda misused.   
  
4: Gosh, I do not know how to play with riddles ^_^;;  
  
^_^;;; That wasn't a long chapter what I've imagined... -_-' but anyways, I think the story is really going were I want it to be ^_^. This one is kinda sloooow... so don't mind the slowness of my chapters -_-' and also the jumping parts -_-.   
  
@------ A rose for those who like the story so far ^_^.  
  
=^_^=cin 


	7. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: Don't own the characters from Digimon. I only own this fic and some made up characters. Anyone who wants to use one of the characters just feel free to use them in your fic ^_^ I'm not that picky.  
  
Taste of life  
  
chapter 6  
  
by: Nekocin  
  
Author's notes:   
  
~Venursia: Sorry :( it didn't really turn out as long as I've imagined, really. Mom didn't want me to stay so long behind the computer . DARN! I can really update fast IF I've just had exams [I believe] and IF these ideas don't fail me. They've to stay fresh in my head before I can write them down without any problems. I'm glad you liked it... even though some characters are kinda OOC. Thanks for the review. @------  
  
~HUGESoratofan: Uhm... right after my English exam [March 13th, 2003] those nagging feelings were haunting me that's when I've submitted chapter 4 and the next day [March 14th, 2003] chapter 5 ^_^. It's okay if you didn't review... but it still feels good to get reviews ^_^. And uh... ^_^' I should've warn everyone that they are kinda OOC. Don't kill Yama yet, I've to use him in my next chapters ^_^' I think my chapters are kinda immature too, see the weird stuff ::looks at the last few chapters:: -_-' I'm glad you liked it so far ^_^. ::blushes:: Favorite list? ::blushes:: @-----  
  
~scorpion05: Well... glad you liked it ^_^. Yama is cruel and IS OOC. -_- I should've warn everyone about the OOC-ness in my first fanfic. ^_^' The riddle wasn't hard to understand, but was hard to make up. ^_^. Anyways thanks for the review. @-----  
  
~SilentStalker: What is spelled wrong o_O? I don't get it... Wait... do you mean that chemistry stuff?   
  
Well... I'm glad you liked it ^_^ and uh... how different? Aren't there any fics almost like this out there ^_^'? But anyways thanks for the review ^_^. @-----  
  
Okay... I'm trying to write longer chapters since I've noticed the last chapter was too short [_ DARN!] Mother wanted my help so I'd to 'abandon' the chapter half way for awhile. I was actually trying to write longer ones, but since the break... I couldn't get those thoughts back together ;_;. Anyways... I really really hope this chapter is going to be longer... I just type away freely that's why I can't really tell you guys what's in this chapter. It would spoil most of my newest ideas -_-'. Okay... on with the chapter... might be a little too serious, but that's my style ^_^'  
  
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The moon was glaring through the big windows, making the butterflies bounce gracefully in the room. Curtains were half drawn and Yamato didn't bother wondering why. Silhouettes made their ways through the moonlight and darkened the room. Everything was silent. Only some howling of the wind as a sign that a storm might burst right the next minute.  
  
The guests had left about an hour ago and Sora's parents were offered to stay for the night since it was quite dangerous going back to the THERE when nighttime came. You might never know what will come out of the corners of the streets. Probably assassins or rapists or robbers or plain killers who just wanted to see blood.   
  
Yamato had tucked himself into his bed after getting himself cleaned. The moonlight didn't bother him one bit as he took his time to adjust his eyes to the dimmed lightened room. He stared at the ceiling for a long time and ran his fingers through his bangs. He'd luckily got all the sand out of his hair and dried his hair as soon as possible.   
  
There was something about the sand trick and the note... he could sense they were linked to one another with him as their target. He just wondered who was behind all that. It couldn't be Kenichi, he's sure Kenichi would never do such a thing to him... and the handwriting was all 'foreign' to him. Kenichi couldn't possibly have written it so neatly and yet he was the only one around in his wing.   
  
Yamato rubbed his temples as he tried to figure out who made him look like a fool. Not every one of the servants was allowed to his wing. Either Kenichi was the only one who was serving him there or the new servant who'd lead both him and Taichi to the dinner hall. Not what he needed though, but it just felt right the servant had said.   
  
//Whoa whoa! Back up!! Back up! Stop thinking about the damn new servant. Think about the plan! The PLAN, man!! GEEZ! You're so trailed off from your main plan!// Yamato hissed to himself and threw one of his pillows at his right. Something fell to the ground and Yamato winced. He quickly sat up and looked at the fallen object.   
  
//What's that...? // He wondered and narrowed his eyes to take a better look at the fallen object. A sly grin appeared on his face as the moonlight emphasized the shadowed smile on Yamato's face.   
  
"Oh yeah... the plan B... no wait! Plan C then..." Yamato said under his breath and dropped himself on to the bed. He stretched his arms and pulled his covers over his shoulders before curling into a ball. There are no worries anymore and the next morning a whole new plan would have been made in his mind by now. No sooner or later he's drifted off to sleep carelessly.  
  
*.*.*.*.*  
  
Sora was humming one of her favorites songs as she went through her dresses, trying to find her pajamas. She'd a smirk on her face and remembered seeing Yamato under the heaps of sand.   
  
//Revenge is sweet all the sudden...// She cooed inwardly and chuckled to herself. Somehow it doesn't seem THAT bad to have someone older than yourself around [1]. It was actually... challenging all the sudden.   
  
Finally she'd found the pajamas she wanted to wear and changed into them when she was in the dressing room. She glanced at the guestroom in which she'll be sleeping in from then on and sighed. The smile faded and her face lost its cheerful colors.   
  
"But still... I've left everyone there..." she said under her breath and pulled out the clasps, which were holding her light brown hair together in a bun.   
  
She looked at the new mattress and used the broken table leg to hit on top of it, wondering if there were more snakes hidden under the covers.   
  
//This is stupid...// she admitted and heaved a sigh of relief when nothing moved except the covers. Before she climbed in she dropped down on her knees and looked under the bed.   
  
//This is definitely stupid... some kid that Mr. the young master// Sora snorted angrily and crawled into her new bed with the same new red covers. She stared at the ceiling and felt her stomach was tying itself into knots...   
  
Everything here is strange. Everyone here is a stranger... they're quite different from the villagers. They rant around being who had the biggest fortunes and who had the biggest house. Sora rolled her eyes when she remembered being tied in a conversation.   
  
//They will never understand...// She pulled the covers over her head and whimpered silently.  
  
*.*.*.*.*  
  
"Master... you called for me?" Rika asked hesitantly as she slowly appeared from behind the big doors of Mr. Ishida's study. Mr. Ishida was scribbling something on a piece of paper, with a lot of opened books scattered around on either his desk or the floor. As soon as he heard the soft voice, he looked up half way and nodded before going back to scribble down some more.   
  
"Yes, Rika. Have you done your work... I mean... have you taken good care of our new guest?" Mr. Ishida asked without looking up.   
  
"Yes, sir..."  
  
"Did anything happen afterwards? Anything that has to do with my son? I've been suspecting my son the last few days... he's acting weird... lately" Mr. Ishida sighed and clasped his hands in front of his mouth.   
  
"Yes, sir..." Rika said nervously. Mr. Ishida frowned and pulled his hands away from each other.   
  
"What happened?"   
  
She thought for a while, trying her hardest not to blurt the whole thing out about the little incident in her new mistress house.   
  
"Kenichi-sama was bitten by a snake, sir. Snakes were found in the mistress' bed, you see sir and Kenichi-sama claimed that it was the young master who did this... it was supposed to bite the new mistress..." her voice trailed off and was startled that Mr. Ishida had slammed his hand on the desk.   
  
"What kind of snakes!?" He demanded.   
  
"Uhm... uhm... I believe poisonous ones... because the mistress had sucked some blood out of Kenichi-sama's bitten arm..." Rika said nervously as she felt her legs were shaking.   
  
A very very angry Mr. Ishida isn't the place for her. The master would just fume around, spitting orders doubled with fire and making him angry is just about a bad idea.   
  
Mr. Ishida narrowed his eyes and glared at the nervous servant. For a moment he looked away and stared at the few lines of a poem, which he was writing:  
  
The silent breeze touched my cheeks as I was looking at the sunset  
  
its golden wings spread out in the sky, highlighting the orange and yellow  
  
As the nightingale sang its heart out to his love, he instead   
  
got rejected, breaking his tender heart and sighing... [2]  
  
Mr. Ishida sighed and looked up at the nervous servant again. "Keep an eye on the new mistress. I don't want anything to happen to her... besides she's going to give birth to my new heir. [3]" He grinned weakly as his weary eyes weren't showing his happiness. R  
  
ika noticed that Mr. Ishida was also acting weird lately. Not his son alone, but his own father as well.   
  
"Y-yes, sir..." she said quickly before her master would notice that she was gaping at him.   
  
*.*.*.*.*  
  
Early in the morning the birds were singing and the sunrays forced themselves through the window glasses. The wind swept its way into the room, blowing some sandy bangs aside, revealing its sleeping owner. The curtains were already drawn and the person in the bed stirred for a while. The person groaned as the sunlight touched his heavy lids and turned away from its light.   
  
"Mmmhmmm... Neko..." [4] the person mumbled as he fingered with the bed sheets. He frowned and mumbled some curses under his breath.   
  
"Neko?" He called and sat up.   
  
"Where's that darn cat..." He looked under his bed and under the covers. "Ugh..., where is it?" he slowly got out of bed and stretched his limbs.   
  
"Good morning..."   
  
He rubbed his eyes slowly and wondered if he was just hearing things. "Uhm... I must be dreaming..."   
  
Yamato was sitting cross-legged comfortably on the couch across the room and was chuckling. He had something in his arms, but Takeru couldn't make out what it was. It was white and had a black and orange spot on one side...  
  
"No, Takeru... I'm real..." Yamato grinned widely as he raised an eyebrow when Takeru was gaping at him.   
  
"What? Never seen me grinning like this?" Takeru noticed that Yamato was right and quickly shook his head, trying to digest everything in.   
  
"So, what are you doing here?"   
  
Before Yamato could answer Takeru promptly shrieked.   
  
"GAH!" He quickly ducks himself under the covers and noticed how amused Yamato was looking at him.   
  
"Your cat..." Yamato smirked as he revealed a cuddling cat in his lap. So that was the white, black-orange thingy.   
  
"Mew" The cat blinked at its owner and stretched its paw.   
  
"OW! STUPID CAT!!" Yamato shouted and pushed the cat away.   
  
"KCHCHT. KCHCHT!" The cat hissed and tilts its tail up facing his behind at Yamato.   
  
Takeru was confused why the sudden change. One minute Yamato was nice and weird and next he was rude and weird again.   
  
//What's the world coming to? // Takeru thought.   
  
"Neko? Why? How did you get in here?" Takeru said quickly before he forgot what he wanted to know why Yamato was there in his room and grabbed a nearby shirt from a chair, which was next to his bed.   
  
"Did you know about my marriage which is just about two months later?" Yamato said grimly,   
  
Takeru raised an eyebrow and sputtered. "M-marriage? You're going to get married!!" Takeru promptly jumped and wanted to do a happy dance [5]. "YAY!! I'll get a sister!! Then no damn poky brother is going to poke on me! Sis will save me!!! That's what mother had always said... once you're married, you aren't allowed to tease me and I'll get your room too!! I'll get your..." Takeru shouted with glee.   
  
Yamato glared at the teenager and cleared his throat as he was petting the cat's fur once he'd captured the cat again.   
  
"KCHCHT! KCHCHT!! MROOW!!" the cat hissed and clawed at Yamato's pants.   
  
Yamato winced and threw the cat away.   
  
"DAMN Cat!" He muttered.   
  
"HEY! Don't be so harsh on Neko!" Takeru snapped and quickly grabbed his cat. "You are the one who needed Neko. So what has your marriage got to do with Neko?" He cradled the cat in his bed sheets.   
  
"Aw, man... look what he did to my pants..." Yamato commented as he stood up. The cat's nails had torn his pants! You can clearly see his thighs through the holes.   
  
Takeru grinned and tried his hardest not to laugh out loud. //Great going, Neko-chan!// Takeru congratulated his cat inwardly.   
  
Sometimes his brother can be such an ass that he sure wish he could just smack him upside down and slam him across the face. Although he's too young and too 'weak' to stand up against his older and stronger brother, Yamato.   
  
"Neko there needs to have a vacation at my soon-to-be wife's wing if you know what I mean..." Yamato winked, torn pants forgotten and ran his fingers through his bangs.   
  
Takeru stopped laughing inwardly and blinked. //What's with the guy?// He frowned and noticed Yamato's facial expressions were 'changed'.   
  
//That smile...// Takeru narrowed his eyes and knew that something was in that puny little head of his big brother. He felt a shiver going down his spine and shook his head. He's really up to something and it has something to do with Neko. His Neko. And... his future sister-in-law.   
  
"I need your Neko for my soon-to-be wife, Takeru..." Yamato said tenderly.   
  
Takeru shivered, his brother had never said something in THAT tone before... it was too creepy... too weird. His bro, tender?! HA! What the heck! Yamato was smirking evilly as he stepped forward towards his brother's bed... Takeru gasped as he tried to protect his sweet Neko...  
  
*.*.*.*.*  
  
The sunlight disturbed a person's sleep as she moved herself to the other side of the king-sized bed of hers. She groaned when the curtains were already drawn, letting the sunrays glare down at her while she was still in bed.   
  
"What time is it...?" she murmured in the satin colored pillows on which she was sleeping. And since no one was with her in her new room, no one answered her. She opened her eyes slowly and sighed.   
  
"A bad morning today..." she muttered under her breath and rubbed her weary eyes.   
  
"MROOW" came a soft squeak from outside her balcony. She didn't bother about it... Something was flung at her and she winced when she felt something sharp had cut her face.  
  
"Mew... KCHCHT! KCHCHT!! KCHCHT!!" something sputtered and raised its hairy back up, all fur stood up on end. She blinked for awhile and was startled as she noticed a very pissed off cat was glaring at her. Its fur was pure white, but had a dark spot on either sides of its shoulders, mingled with some orange colors. "KCHCHCHT!! KCHCHCHT!!" It sputtered and clawed its nails through the covers.   
  
Sora froze and pulled herself away from the angry cat. //What's a neko doing here?// She though under her breath and quickly backed away. She felt that her cheek was burning, not from blushing, but from... She slowly rubbed her cheeks carefully and winced when she'd touched the spot where it hurt the most.   
  
The cat had scratched one side of her cheek!! Sora could feel the warm/cold liquid running down her cheek. She gasped as she saw the blood on her hands and quickly got out of bed. She pulled the covers away in the attempt to catch the cat off guard.   
  
"MROOW!!!" The cat hissed and narrowed its eyes, glaring at Sora and hurled itself on to her...   
  
"NEKO! Please don't do this!"  
  
"HEY, YAMA. WHAT ARE YOU DOING DOWN THERE?"  
  
*.*.*.*.*  
  
Yamato glanced around the corner as he was hanging himself on to the shrubs, which grew against the walls of his house. He noticed that the curtains were drawn and the balcony door has been opened. The sleeping figure stirred a little under the covers as she moved in to a different sleeping position. He grinned 'silently' as he took the cat by the scruff of its neck.   
  
//Damn Takeru's puny little Neko. Such a blood lover...// He thought evilly as he thought about his brother whom he'd visited early in the morning. But since Takeru had moved in with their grandmother, Yamato had to travel all the way to the countries -quickly too- to get there earlier. His poor brother, living with a blood loving cat... he smirked evilly [6].   
  
He had to tie his brother up to catch the neko and bring him home. His brother would definitely NOT like that and he got a mental image what his little bro might do if he's really into the spitting fire image, which had been in his blood veins for a long time.   
  
A very angry Takeru was kinda cute Yamato noticed and wondered how he was when he was fuming. That way he can always tease the little squirt... but not if his grandma, who lived in the country, or his mother, who lived in the countries with his grandmother, or his father were around.   
  
They would have given him the 'no-no-no' look or the 'touch-him-and-you-will-die' look. They always picked the younger ones as their favorites Yamato had noticed and was kinda getting a bit jealous... [7]  
  
Nobody cared to comment about how he looked like when he was angry. Not at home, since everyone was shaking when he was angry and they didn't care to comment about his angry looks. His father had seen him getting angry all the time and didn't let the fuming image bother him. He knew that his son would eventually cool down and feel defeated because he had the upper hand in the house and no one else. Kenichi also didn't bother about his angry image; he would just smile and do his work without complaining or commenting.   
  
While at school he'd never gotten angry except for the fact when girls were around. They just adore him and would just flip if they saw him angry. Because for them a very, very angry Yama is also a very, very cute Yama. The girls would just throw themselves at him and flirt around in the presence of his friends.   
  
Taichi-- he would never comment about how he looked like when he was angry and he was glad he didn't because Taichi would just laugh at his angry image. "The clown! The traitor!" Yamato muttered under his breath.  
  
"MROOW!!" the cat glared at Yamato and he glared back. "Now you listen here, Neko. Just scratch her or whatever you want to do... have no mercy!" Yamato hardened his glare and looked around the corner. He flushed when he saw Sora was sitting up and noticed her nightclothes.   
  
"A bad morning today..." he heard her mutter as rubbed her eyes. Unmarried males weren't allowed to see an unmarried female in her nightclothes. It would be strictly mistaken that the boy was HENTAI [8].   
  
Yamato quickly shook his head and glared at the cat for the last time. He flung the cat with all his might and hoped that the cat would land on the girl instead of a table or a wall or whatever it's in the way.   
  
"Mew!" The cat squealed painfully as it felt the air was pulled out of its lungs when she was flung at a certain person. She pulled her nails out and landed on someone's face. The girl gasped and quickly pulled the cat away from her face, slamming the cat on to the other side of her bed.   
  
Outside, Yamato heard the gasp and smirked victoriously. He looked around the corner and saw that the cat was ready to pounce on the girl.   
  
"KCHCHT! KCHCHT!! KCHCHT!!" Neko hissed clawing its nails in to the covers. He watched as Sora froze and backed away from the angry Neko. He could see that her face paled and smirked behind the scenes.   
  
//One victory is all I want...nah, maybe more victories will just relieve me... I'll stop until she leaves...//   
  
Sora winced when she touched her cheek. The cat had scratched one side of her cheek! A small scar on her flesh! The blood streamed out slowly and she gasped when she saw the blood in her hand. "KCHCHCHT!! KCHCHCHT!!" the cat hissed again.  
  
A mental image of Yamato growing horns and rubbing his hands was floating around Yamato's head. Yamato grinned. //That's me...//.  
  
Sora quickly got out of bed and pulled away the covers, hoping to catch the cat off guard.   
  
"MROOW!!" The cat hissed and narrowed its eyes. The cat hurled itself on to her and Sora gasped. She backed away quickly.   
  
"NEKO! Please don't do this!!" Yamato wondered how she knew the cat's name and...   
  
"HEY, YAMA. WHAT ARE YOU DOING DOWN THERE?!!" It was Taichi's shout. He leaned over his balcony and found Yamato snooping around in someone else's balcony.   
  
Both Yamato and Sora froze. Yamato cursed under his breath as Sora glanced at the balcony.   
  
//DAMN, Taichi! // He looked up to see a cheerful Taichi waving to him from his balcony. Yamato gritted his teeth and noted to himself that he'll have to throttle his friend later... if he was going to be alive when Sora was...  
  
"Ahem!" Sora cleared her throat, Yamato's hair stood on end and he felt something going straight down his spine. He shivered a bit and slowly turned himself to face the girl.   
  
"And what are YOU doing here?" Sora glared as she crossed her arms.   
  
//Now she looks a little... lively...// Yamato noted and saw the scar on her cheek. It was bleeding! He congratulated himself inwardly, but had to push that thought away for a while because he's busted! Both of them glared at each other in silence.   
  
"Mew... mew... mrow..." the cat broke the silence and rubbed his little head around Sora's feet.   
  
"And oh... your Neko here shouldn't be a torturer" Sora said in a harsh whisper and grabbed the cat carefully. Yamato's eyes widened when he saw that Neko wasn't fighting back when a total stranger like Sora was cradling it.   
  
"How did you...?" he asked slowly and Sora threw him a hard glance again.   
  
"What are you doing here?" Sora snapped as she petted the cat's fur. A very very painful glare contest was going on between both of them.  
  
Taichi, on the other hand, wondered why Yamato didn't answer and noticed that Sora was standing right in front of him, cradling a cat. He flushed when he saw what she was wearing and slapped himself mentally.   
  
"So Yama was at it again..." he sighed and looked down at the comfortable-looking cat which Sora was cradling. "Please, Neko... why don't you trade places with me?" Taichi pleaded under his breath and watched as the Neko was looking up lovingly at Sora.   
  
The Neko threw a glance at the pouting Taichi. Taichi swore that the cat knew what he was thinking and it just smirked at him, declining the pleading. Taichi gritted his teeth. "Why you little fur ball..."   
  
....  
  
End chapter 6  
  
Author's notes:  
  
1: ^_^' that one will come later when everything is cleared up.   
  
2: I guess you all must have noticed that I suck at writing poetry. Just like in that little poem in the prologue ^_^'.  
  
3: And everyone crashed down on to the ground, landing on their faces ::CRASH!!:: ^_^' See? ::points at fallen persons:: ^_^' hehehehe, didn't mean to be a little out of my mind.   
  
4: Ya... beat me! Whack me! I love cats! Heck! And I just put cats in here too so just kick me if you don't like cats XP too bad... and for those who don't know what "neko" means... it means "cat". Obvious, right?   
  
5: And again... see the OOC here?  
  
6: I took the blood loving cat pattern thing from a book, which I've read a long time ago... I think when I was a freshman in JH. That book was quite exciting ::getting dreamy eyes:: ^_^ I just love that book even though the neko was evil . I mean really really evil. The neko in that book really really is a blood loving neko.  
  
7: Uhm... you see both Takeru and Yamato are so OOC. I've changed a little of their sibling love relationship, but I'll really get back to the real sibling love later I guess.  
  
8: For traditional couples and stuff, you see... it's almost like that ^_^'.   
  
@_@ Finally done with this chapter. Took me 3 days, since mother didn't like me to stay up and write down the whole chapter in one day. I'm kinda tired right now... my fingers hurt since I'm not used to writing with freezing fingers _*. DARN! This chapter is still short!! ::pouts in a corner:: I'm so sorry... and I think I've used a lot of wrong prepositions -_-' This chapter seems a little lame -_-;... I should put more effort next time.   
  
But for those who still like/love it, here a @------- for everyone ^_^.   
  
::looks around at the Sorato fans:: SO, WHO WANTS TO THROTTLE THIS DAMN YAMATO I'VE CREATED?!! : D Ehehehehe ::looks at the Sorato fans again/ crickets broke the silence:: No one? :O ::drops her ego slightly:: Damn. So I've to finish up this evil personality of his, huh? -_-' Well then, you just have to wait. ^_^'  
  
Note: Uhm... I thought someone would get a little confused about my title there "Taste of life". Doesn't it sound a little suspicious or something to you guys? I've just picked out a title and this one just fit the story. I'll eventually explain later in the chapters since it's part of some of my first ideas.  
  
=^_^=cin 


	8. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: Don't own the characters from Digimon. I only own this fic and some made up characters. Anyone who wants to use one of the characters just feel free to use them in your fic ^_^ I'm not that picky.  
  
Taste of life  
  
chapter 7  
  
by: Nekocin  
  
Author's notes:   
  
DawnHope: I know ^_^' I really should've warned everyone about the Yamato OOC thing. But then again this is AU, so I can do whatever to him ^_^' Thanks for the review ^_^ @-----  
  
HUGESoratofan: ^_^ I'm glad you felt better and I'm not angry because you're late... Thanks again for your review. @-----  
  
Rizza426: Well, it's okay if you didn't review chapter 5. Thanks for the review ^_^. I'm glad you liked chapter 6. @-----  
  
Venursia: ^_^' But I still thought chapter 6 was a little short... anyways, thanks for the review @-----  
  
scorpion05: ^_^ You do love cats?! ^o^ And blood loving too ^o^!!? I'm glad you liked chapter 6. Mr. Ishida is kinda secretive so that part will be revealed later. Thanks for the review ^_^ @-----  
  
SilentStalker: o_O Oh... so I misunderstood ^_^'. Oh, you mean that... uhm... that's because I thought about not rushing into relationships ^_^' I think I got the plot from somewhere in the fartest corner of my brains ^_^' Thanks for the review then @-----   
  
Warnings: Uhm... OOC, small bad mouth-thing [i.e. curses... ^_^']  
  
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"What are you doing here?" Sora snapped as she petted the cats fur. Yamato was silent for a while and his eyes were darting around for an escape. He felt very uncomfortable to be caught red-handed especially by his soon-to-be wife, who has this creepy sense around her. He just knew she was something very creepy... but now is not to worry about what she was.   
  
It was time to worry about what she would do to HIM. He tried making up a new plan... a very quick one too. Sensing his train of thoughts, Sora extended the cat to Yamato. He looked confused at her and than at the glaring cat.   
  
"Don't just stand there and look at Neko..." Sora scowled while Neko protested inwardly with a soft MROW!  
  
Taichi watched them from above and wondered what was going on down there. "Yamato is in big trouble, yeah..." Taichi whispered to himself and shook his head as he crossed his arms. "Serves him right... although, he still my friend, I can't just stand here and watch whatever that Sora is planning to do with Yamato there... I can only imagine... a very very scared little Yamato cowering from a giant Sora..." A mental image of a giant Sora stomped near a corner where Yamato was cowering like a little mouse came into his mind.   
  
"Nah... he's so stubborn..." Taichi dismissed the crazy image and stomped out of his room.  
  
"Get inside!" Sora ordered when Yamato made no move or said no word in front of her. "NOW! Or Neko here gets your flesh!" She pushed Neko near his face and   
  
Yamato paled. //No, not my face! Not the face...// Yamato could easily see that Neko was smirking evilly and slowly lifted its right paw, with the sharp nails... ready to launch against his smooth skin.   
  
Reluctantly, Yamato nodded slowly and obeyed. He walked inside, feeling as if he was digging his own grave now. His soon-to-be wife was not only so creepy; she was also a tyrant as well.   
  
//Better get on to Plan B and Plan D before she takes over this house! // Yamato squinted his eyes.  
  
A loud bang was heard from behind him and he quickly turned around. "What are you doing?" his eyes darted around frantically as he watched Sora slamming the doors of the balcony closed.   
  
"What does it look like, Mister?" Sora scowled back as she petted the cat again.   
  
//So what does Mr. young master want? //   
  
Yamato shuddered when he began to feel those creepy tickles in his back... that Sora was really up to something.   
  
//Maybe... maybe... she's going to do something about me... maybe she'll do something very very bad... oh no... oh Shit! I'm so in deep shit and I've been digging my grave all along without noticing it? Oh, shit! //   
  
They locked gazes together; one was getting darker glints while the other seemed to want to water right away... "SIT!" Sora ordered and motioned to a nearby chair. Without a word, Yamato took his seat without tearing their eye contact with another.   
  
//Her eyes are... dark?// He shuddered inwardly. //Was she some kind of Necromancer or a real witch? Because she'd tamed Neko there... I've lived with Neko for nearly a few years and she isn't fond of me. She just met her a few seconds and she already likes Sora... I don't get it...//   
  
"Okay, let me get this straight... you're on my balcony because you wanted to fling Neko-chan here towards me, right?" Yamato nodded mutely. /  
  
/She can figure it out... STUPID B*TCH, I should've known she was also a geek! DAMN THIS CRUEL FATE!! DAMN THIS WHOLE THING!! OR WHATEVER!!!// Yamato screamed inwardly as he hardened his gaze.   
  
"So this cat is supposed to scratch me ugly or something like that?" Sora was still petting on the cat's head, who was leaning closer to the soft touch. Neko began to purr around and didn't pay much attention to Yamato, the cat hater there.   
  
Yamato blinked at her assumption [1].  
  
"That sounds great, but on the other hand... your father would not be pleased... She did manage to scratch my cheek here. And I guess I might be infected or something. I've read too much novels..." Sora said while touching the scar on her cheek, anger forgotten and muttered the last few sentences under her breath   
  
//What the...? // Yamato blinked again.   
  
"I should clean it right away, before it really get ugly. I know it really didn't matter on the outside, but the inside only... still... this scar would just keep getting more attention than needed" Sora muttered again and forgot why she'd asked Yamato to come into her chamber. She extended the cat in front of Yamato, who reluctantly fluttered her eyes open.  
  
"Here, hold Neko-chan for me, will you? I've to take a shower or something to clean that wound here. Neko-chan... Watch him!" Sora said and pushed the cat against Yamato's chest.   
  
"Wha...?" he could manage to say as soon as she ran towards her bathroom with some bandages and clothes.   
  
//What the hell? I thought I was grounded or something...// he looked at the closed door and his frown deepened. He didn't notice that Neko was pushing her nails out as soon as she was Yamato's embrace.   
  
"MROOW!!" she hissed and scratched forward, while Yamato blinked.   
  
"What the... YOU DAMN NEKO!! AAAH!! STOP THAT! DAMN NEKO!! AAAH!! STOP IT!! STOP! STOP!! STOP!"  
  
*~*~*~*~  
  
Taichi was running down the stairs to get to the guestroom. //Have to hurry, have to hurry... or that Neko will get her! Ugh... what the hell am I thinking? I mean... or that Sora will kick Yamato's butt...! // Taichi frowned as he greeted a few servants politely.   
  
//How many servants must she have? // He ran through the corridor and panted as soon as he got to the hall where the guestroom should be. He quickly hid himself around the corner when he saw the door opened. Sora walked out with her towels, clothes and some First-aid supplies.   
  
Taichi noticed something red on her cheeks and narrowed his eyes to take a better look. //Blood...// He thought and frowned.   
  
"Why that Yamato was really something... how could he get that stupid blood sucker down here? Why did he need this stupid blood sucker to torture her anyways..."   
  
Taichi scowled in silence. "Speaking of that Yamato guy, where is he...?" He thought for a while and began feeling his skin crawl.   
  
"What if she'd abused him or something... what if... damn! Sorry, my friend... I was too late..."   
  
"YOU DAMN NEKO!! AAAH!! STOP THAT! DAMN NEKO!! AAAH!! STOP IT!! STOP! STOP!! STOP!" Taichi's eyes widened and listened to the loud curses.   
  
"Is that the young master?" someone from behind him asked and he jumped out of his skin... if it would be possible in reality.   
  
"Kenichi!" Taichi gasped and had almost forgotten to breath. He clutched his chest dramatically and Kenichi frowned.   
  
"I'm sorry, Master Yagami..." Kenichi said slowly as he cradled his injured arm.   
  
"Uh... it's okay... what did you say?" Taichi smiled faintly and forgot why he had been surprised to see Kenichi behind him.   
  
Kenichi can be found anywhere where Yamato should be, so he's kinda like a shadow to the young master, which made Taichi a little uncomfortable. So Kenichi knew where Yamato was... CREEPY.   
  
"I said, was that the Young master?" Kenichi said slowly and carefully not to trip over his own words.   
  
"Yes, I guess... there must be a cat there..." Taichi shrugged, as he rolled his eyes. "Same Yamato as always, the damn kid was always into trouble when he didn't want to follow uncle's wishes"   
  
"Shouldn't we go help him or something? Because... it seems he was attacked..." Kenichi's voice trailed off as he heard the water had stopped filling the sink. Taichi gasped and quickly pinned himself against the wall.   
  
Kenichi blinked.   
  
*~*~*~*~  
  
Sora walked into the bathroom and looked at the scar in her reflection.   
  
"Ugh... that scar is quite ugly..." Sora muttered and turned on the tab. The water streamed out in full force, only to be locked away from the pipe. Sora used the so-called bowl to wash away the blood and clean it properly.   
  
//That Mr. young master should know how to be hospitable! Where are his manners? I guess when I first met him he was just putting up an act... what does he think he is? The KING? // Sora frowned as she put some medicine on the wound. //Luckily, I've learned some Doctor's degree stuff or whatever they are called from mother...//   
  
"YOU DAMN NEKO!! AAAH!! STOP THAT! DAMN NEKO!! AAAH!! STOP IT!! STOP! STOP!! STOP!"  
  
Sora was surprised by the outburst and looked up.   
  
"What did Neko-chan do?" she bandaged the wound and turned off the tab. "Neko-chan was fine a minute ago when I petted her..." Sora said softly and walked out of the bathroom. She walked straight towards her bedroom and pushed the door open, never noticing Taichi and Kenichi were following her closely. They gasped...  
  
*~*~*~*~  
  
Yamato glared at the angry cat in front of him as she tried to launch another attack at Yamato with her claws.   
  
"Damn, Neko! I do not know what Takeru SEE in you or what Sora SEE in you! You're just a little stupid puny..." Yamato hissed, while jumping away from the cat's pounces.   
  
"KCHCHCHT! KCHCHCHT!!" The cat hissed and tried to pounce on that blondy there that was insulting her beautiful fur. A scratch there and a scratch here don't seem to satisfy Neko and she clawed on to the thick carpet of the floor.   
  
Traces of bloodied claws can be seen on the dark carpets and the bed. The chair was broken in half when Yamato crashed down from it as soon as Neko had wanted to pounce on him.   
  
Yamato's eyes were searching frantically for an escape and was so caught up with the run-away from the blood-loving cat, that he didn't notice Sora pushing open the front door.  
  
A few gasps surprised him and he got confused.   
  
"MROOW!!" The cat sprung high up in the air with some help from that bouncy bed of Sora's and pounced on to Yamato's face.   
  
"AAH" "NEKO!" Sora shrieked and quickly made her way forward to the fallen Yamato.   
  
"NEKO! Let go! Let go!" Sora pulled on to the cat's stomach, who refused to push her nails back in now that her damn victim was clawed in.   
  
"Aah... get this darn cat away from me! Aa..." Yamato whimpered out loud.   
  
"Yamato!" "Young master!" Both Taichi and Kenichi ran forward to help the helpless Yamato. They tried pulling the cat away from his face, but since Sora didn't need help with that, they tried pulling Yamato away [2].   
  
"Aah... would you stop being so rough!?" Yamato complained and tried pulling the cat away from his face as he pinched on the cat's back.   
  
"MROW!" Bad idea! Neko hissed and her nails dug deeper into his skin.   
  
"Neko... let go! Let go Neko... Let him go... I only ask you to watch him not attack him... Neko. Listen to me! Let him go! No... no... let go, Neko!" Sora tried her best to pull the cat away, but still... the cat refused to let her prey go.  
  
"Neko!! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING? LET GO OF HIM THIS INSTANT, NEKO!" An unfamiliar voice called from the front door and everyone looked up to see a smaller version of Yamato?   
  
"Takeru?" "Young Master T?" both Taichi and Kenichi called.  
  
Sora's eyes widened as soon as she saw the teen in front of her front door and wondered if Yamato was related to him, because they awfully resembled each other.   
  
The cat obeyed, reluctantly let go and pulled her nails back. She jumped away from Sora's arms and ran up to pounce on the stranger. He chuckled slightly as he petted the cat's head and let it stay on his shoulder.   
  
Yamato was panting and panting. The others seemed to be having little time to worry about catching their breath, and Yamato fell flat on to the carpeted floor as soon as he caught his breath.   
  
"Yamato!"   
  
"Young master!"   
  
"Mr. Young master!"   
  
Takeru chuckled as he watched them worrying about his fainted brother. He looked around in the chamber and noticed some blood trails and the bandages on Sora's cheek.   
  
//So... I guess he really did mean to hurt my sister-in-law. Taking advantage of my Neko...// Takeru glared as he petted the cat on his shoulder.   
  
"You did a fine job, Neko. Brother was quite naughty today, huh?" The cat purred and leaned into the touch.  
  
....  
  
End chapter 7  
  
Author's notes:  
  
1: and I suppose everyone would already have crashed down right.... NOW ::CRASH!!!:: ^_^' that is just a stupid excuse to ease the so-called pressure.   
  
2: And you all know what will happen... -_- poor Yamato ;_;   
  
^_^', man... there's no way I'm going to make Yamato Sora's real henpecked husband. That would so NOT right and so NOT justice [don't get me wrong about this sentence. It sounds... weird ^_^'] :( so I don't get those ideas of taking revenge on poor Yamato because of his :D EVIL DEEDS! :D But sure, it would be fun, right? Giving Sora some spotlights, I mean...  
  
Okay, that was a real boring chapter -_-' really really boring one, because I didn't get to their come-together chapter or scene or whatever_yet.  
  
=^_^=cin 


	9. Chapter 8

Taste of life  
  
chapter 8b: the original   
  
by: Nekocin  
  
Author's notes:   
  
::Takes deep breath:: -_-;; I've noticed a lot of people had noticed the turn of the story and wanted to the real story back in line. Like I said I didn't know what to write anymore. The original ideas were somewhere scattered in misty darkness. I just wanted to write something down and put up a strange story after the original one.   
  
I'll try to keep the story line back up ^-^;; okay? Sorry for giving you all such a heart attack with a quick subject. I'll pick up the storyline where I've left off... hope it's not too icky. The first part is copied from the original chapter... you can just skip it and go on to the next part. Thank you for reading the long notes.  
  
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Everywhere was dark.   
  
Where was he?   
  
Where was the light?   
  
What had happened?   
  
Yamato wondered a few times as he looked around. It looked as if he was in a deep black hole.   
  
But how did he get in there?   
  
He couldn't recall what had happened a few moments ago.   
  
He heard a few muffled voices and didn't try to make out who was talking.   
  
His ears were hurting him.   
  
What was actually happening to him?   
  
The throbbing didn't stop when he stirred.  
  
It only got worse.  
  
*~*~*~*~  
  
Taichi and Kenichi had tucked Yamato in Sora's bed while Sora was fidgeting with the hems of her pajama.   
  
"Is he all right?" Sora asked worriedly.   
  
"He's fine. Fine... he was just out of breath" Taichi chuckled as he took a deep breath again after letting go of the heavy body.   
  
"We should wait till he wakes up" Kenichi sighed and rubbed his temples. The young master was getting really out of hand. He was already doing so much mischief after Miss Takenouchi had arrived. That would be just about a half day... his stubbornness could be clearly seen RIGHT there. Just because of a 'simple' announcement.   
  
Both of them looked at the recent scratches on Yamato's face.   
  
"Man, Neko-chan's quite rough when it comes to Yamato" Taichi said in a pitiful voice as he scratched the back of his head nervously.  
  
Takeru stepped forward, pocketing his hands and approached the bed. Neko was still on his shoulder and glared at the fainted figure under Sora's covers.   
  
//Brother, whatever you're doing, you've no right to do that to my soon-to-be sister-in-law. Even though Neko-chan was also at fault too...// He glanced sideways at the cat on his shoulder. The cat blinked and Takeru imagined Neko giving him a small smile. Neko purred and leaned against Takeru's cheek.   
  
Sora caught his movement from the corners of her eyes and glanced at him. The stranger definitely resembled Yamato, only a little younger. The same dirty blonde hair and the same blue eyes. But why hasn't she seen him at the party last night?   
  
"Uhm... may I ask you something, sir?" Sora said carefully and fidgeted with her fingers.   
  
"Hm?" Takeru looked up and smiled. "I'm sorry, I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Yamato's younger brother, Takeru... and you must be my soon-to-be sister-in-law..."   
  
"T-takenouchi Sora is the name..." Sora offered a small smile. Neko took a look at her and jumped from Takeru's shoulder in Sora's arms.   
  
"Oh... Neko!" Sora looked surprised at the cat, which was making herself comfortable in the warm embrace. A small smile tugged on to Neko's lips as she purred, leaning in to Sora's warmth.   
  
"Neko-chan! Haven't you had enough?" Takeru pointed out as he glared coolly at the cat. Neko looked up at Takeru with half opened eyes and blinked. "Mew?" Sora blinked also and thought she'd noticed a half smirk on Neko's face. Does that mean that Neko could understand people? Or does it mean that she's also being stubborn and knows what she wants?   
  
Taichi noticed the two exchanging some conversation and ran his fingers through his hair. "I think we forgot something..." He murmured under his breath as he looked at Kenichi's blank face.   
  
"What?" came a small voice, must be Sora's Taichi noted and turned around fully. It was definitely Sora and he noticed Neko was giving him a smirk too while Takeru had a blank face. Taichi narrowed his eyes at Neko and growled.   
  
Then it hit him. WHAM!   
  
"SCHOOL!!!! IT'S ALMOST TIME TO GO TO SCHOOL!!"   
  
The others minus Yamato, who was still unconscious, backed away while covering their ears with their hands [well, except Neko, who just flat her ears] and winced silently.   
  
Taichi looked around the room and then at the unconscious Yamato.   
  
"Now that you've mentioned it... yes, classes begins over 15 minutes." Kenichi noted and looked worriedly at Yamato.   
  
"He can still stay here until he's awake. The teachers won't mind, would they?" Sora wondered and didn't notice Takeru raised an eyebrow.   
  
"I mean, look at his wounds. Won't they ask about them if he still goes to school? So maybe it doesn't hurt to keep him in bed, right?"   
  
Takeru's mind wandered when Sora said those words. He noticed the concern written all over her face and etched in her words.   
  
//Does that mean she doesn't mind onii-chan for what he did to her?//   
  
Taichi's eyes darted around and he began to run his fingers through his hair nervously.   
  
"I think the teachers will mind. Yamato doesn't take his schoolwork seriously and I'm afraid uncle doesn't want him to miss his classes anyways." Taichi rubbed his chin thoughtfully.  
  
"Of course, dad will kill him anyways, unless he has some explaining to do," Takeru exclaimed.   
  
Sora looked at both of them and petted Neko's head.   
  
"So, what should we do?" she said while she felt Neko tried to wiggle around.   
  
"Mew," Neko purred and rubbed her head against Sora's pajamas.  
  
"Besides that I believe uncle wants him to escort you to your classes and show you around," Taichi frowned as he looked at Sora, whose jaw had dropped.  
  
"School is today? You just told me last night and now I've school! I didn't even prepare myself and my school stuff!" Takeru smiled.   
  
It's definitely a great plan to bring them together. Mr. Ishida must have thought everything out.  
  
"Well just go get dressed. Kenichi! Her uniform," Takeru interrupted and picked Neko up from Sora's embrace. He could imagine Neko pouting when she left Sora's arms. Neko refused to stay at his side and jumped away, heading towards the hall.  
  
"Yes, young master T," Kenichi said, wondering why the other young master was so happy. This whole family was really spinning their webs of confusion around.   
  
Why were they acting sort of different? After years of getting used to their habits, it's now effecting his conscious. It must be a sign of preparing themselves to welcome a new member in their family. A member, who was not tied to any wealth, only to her village. Other than the nice exterior of both Mr. Ishida and Takeru, Kenichi sensed that Yamato held a different sign.  
  
"Please follow me, my Lady," Kenichi said politely and walked towards the door.  
  
As soon as both Kenichi and Sora were gone, Takeru turned to the unconscious Yamato. Taichi backed away. Sometimes you've to watch out for siblings too, it's like they somehow take after their eldest brother or sister. So Takeru was as creepy as Yamato, but not as stubborn as his brother.   
  
"Uh...hi, Takeru What are you doing here?" Taichi gulped silently and felt nervous all the sudden.  
  
"Hey, Taichi, I just came to rescue my Neko and my sister-in-law from my sadistic 'nii-chan. Heck! I didn't know he was going to get married and he's already getting childish. And what about you?" Takeru said flatly and Taichi flinched.  
  
//Man! The little guy is just like Yamato, only more mature than Yama anyways// Taichi's brain began to work as he digested what Takeru had said a moment ago and missed the question Takeru had asked him.  
  
"What's Neko doing here?"  
  
Taichi noticed the dark look in Takeru's eyes and Takeru growled.   
  
Takeru pointed at his brother and hissed "Onii-chan came to grandma's house, woke me up and wanted to take Neko-chan! I protested, but he'd to gag me and tie me up! He catnapped my Neko!!!,"   
  
Taichi winced inwardly. //So the little Yamato seeks revenge. Bad Yama! Stealing Neko from your younger brother//  
  
"What are YOU doing here?" Takeru pulled Taichi back to reality. Taichi blinked stupidly at Takeru, who was clenching his fists.   
  
"Uhm... Yamato wanted me to be his some kind of witness to see Sora fail or something like that," Taichi answered nervously as he scratched the back of his right ear.   
  
"Let me guess, 'nii-chan had forced you..." Takeru's eyes narrowed and Taichi laughed nervously.   
  
"Ehehehehe..." Takeru stomped towards the bathroom, Taichi blinked, wondering what was going on in Takeru's head. He disappeared into the bathroom and Taichi heaved a sigh.   
  
//Now I wonder how come Neko likes Sora so fast...Yamato knows that cat for months and they're still cat fighting....// He looked at Yamato.   
  
"GET UP!!!" Takeru shouted with rage and threw a whole bucket of water at Yamato.  
  
Taichi practically jumped away from the bed as the water crashed down at Yamato.  
  
Yamato shrieked when the cold water came in touch with his face. The bed was soaking wet and Takeru smirked.  
  
"What...the...?!,"Yamato sputtered and coughed out the water, which managed to make their way through his nostrils into his lungs.   
  
"What's the big idea?!?," Yamato snapped and shivered as he felt his clothes were soaking wet.   
  
"School, o big brother... just get ready before father comes up with a gun or something. You've to escort sis-in-law to her classes." Takeru blinked innocently and Taichi swore Neko must have taken over some patterns from the evil Takeru. Aa... he could just imagine... horns sprouting out of either sides of Takeru's head.  
  
But as always Takeru isn't always that evil.   
  
Yamato's face paled and they heard someone running down the halls. Both Sora and Kenichi burst in to the room and panted while they glanced at the three.   
  
"W-What happened?," Sora informed and noticed Yamato was soaking wet while Takeru was holding a bucket.   
  
"Hi, he's now awake," Takeru smirked and put down the bucket. He ignored the glares he was getting from Yamato and smiled innocently. Kenichi's mouth just dropped and Sora looked worried.   
  
Yamato blinked. He noticed Sora wearing a girl's uniform, a buttoned up black blue skirt and a navy blue skirt, which reached till her knees.  
  
"Oh no... This bed should go too?" Sora groaned suddenly, not even noticing Yamato was observing her.  
  
"Huh?," the others minus Yamato blinked.  
  
"It's all wet. Last time it was full of venomous snakes and now...wet," Sora groaned and the others crashed down comically.  
  
"Swee-iet indeed!" Yamato rolled his eyes.  
  
*~*~*~*~*  
  
"There's Yamato!"  
  
"He's so cuuuuuuuuuuuuuuute!!!!"  
  
"Wow! Did he just look at me?!!!"  
  
"No! He looked at me!"  
  
"What are you talking about? He just winked at me!!"  
  
"... isn't that a girl walking behind him?"  
  
"... yeah... she looks new. I mean..."  
  
"Who's she?"  
  
"What's she doing, walking behind him like that?"  
  
"*gasps* Did he just turn around to talk to her?"  
  
"That's so unfair!! Whenever I walk behind him, he didn't even notice me!"  
  
Taichi sighed and shook his head disapprovingly when he overheard the conversation of some Yamato fans. Some fans can be so possessive over their idols...   
  
He walked over to his best friend and a certain new girl.  
  
"Hey, what took you guys so long?" He smiled brightly at the two. Both of them were wearing their glares when he got closer. It seemed they got into some glaring contest.  
  
Sora broke the glare and smiled at Taichi, in a wicked way.   
  
"I had to wait till his hair is back to NORMAL!" She shot a glare at Yamato, who snorted in distaste.   
  
"It was all wet in case you've forgotten" Yamato retorted and crossed his arm. "And stop following me around! You're embarressing me"   
  
"You are supposed to show me around, remember?" Sora narrowed her eyes at her soon-to-be-husband, who might end up dead after their marriage for sure. Yamato hmphed in disgust and turned away.  
  
Taichi sweatdropped. //What the...? They're already bickering like an old couple//  
  
"Stupid glowhead!" Sora muttered and for the first time took a look at her new school. The school was gigantic!!! She'd almost backed away in shock when she saw the big building. It's almost as if the building was going to collapse on top of her if she came any closer. It was trice the size of her old school. Rich people somehow got this fetish for having everything big. Before you know it, maybe Yamato wants someone big for a wife. Maybe a big gorrilla fit the description. or an elephant.  
  
Sora just shook her head to gather her scattered thoughts back in place. Taichi watched as Sora took a shaky step forward.   
  
//Must be the shock to see such a big place// He thought and reached forward to lay a reasuring hand on her shoulder.   
  
"I can show you around if you want..." He offered with a smile as soon as Sora whipped around to see who'd just laid a hand on her shoulder.   
  
"Taichi! Don't do that!" Sora scolded as she clutched the front of her uniform. "I'm paranoid whenever I see something so shocking"   
  
Taichi chuckled and pulled his hand away. "Sorry... so are you in any of our classes?"   
  
Sora shrugged and ran her fingers through her hair.   
  
"Where's the principal's office? I want to check my schedule"   
  
Taichi smiled inwardly. Winning her trust is quite easy consider she's a nice person. If Sora's going to trust him, maybe he could play cupid some time. Playing cupid sounded so interesting whenever it came to a certain stubborn 'glowhead'.   
  
"Right this way, Takenouchi-san... Ladies first"   
  
Sora smiled faintly and slowly felt at ease. No wonder Taichi's someone's best friend. He's charming, nice and warm to be around with. She just couldn't believe he's best friends with a stupid, stubborn glowing snob.   
  
"You're such a gentleman"   
  
With that coming from Sora, Taichi lead the way to the principal's office. Certain Yamato fans were relieved that the new girl had nothing to do with Yamato, their favorite idol. Too bad they've no idea the cute guy had everything to do with the new girl. If they did know... who knows what they'll do to catch him from her 'clutches'.   
  
From a far distance, someone watched Taichi lead Sora towards the big school building through a window. He crossed his arms disapprovingly and snorted.  
  
....  
  
End chapter 8b  
  
Author's notes:  
  
oooooooohhhhhhhhhh: None taken here ^-^. I'm glad you liked the original idea. The new idea just isn't right here. Sorry for giving you a heart attack. So how is the second version of chapter 8 so far? Oh by the way, it's good that you've read the notes. I thought a lot of people skipped them. #^_^# You've read my other fics too? Just give me criticism and maybe the storyline might become a bit better. Thanks for pointing it out to me.  
  
1: O_o Nice argument. I didn't think anyone loved my original idea so much. So I just broke the barriers around the story and dumped it somewhere. I guess I got frustrated a bit when I put the new idea -_-;; sorry for giving you a heart attack. #^_^# Just give me a few criticism maybe I can polish my style a bit better or the storyline. Thanks for reviewing it anyways.  
  
=^_^=cin 


	10. Chapter 9

Taste of life  
  
Chapter 9b: the original  
  
by: Nekocin  
  
Disclaimer: characters are not mine. Fic is mine.  
  
Author's notes:   
  
-_-;; Okay... I took my time figuring this thing out. ^_^ I hope it corresponds with the previous parts. Sorry that it took a long time for me to update this. I had been busy with other fanfics and new ideas and even new anime/manga. ^_^;; So go on and read...  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
In a classroom during lunch.  
  
Students shoved around just to get out of class and run into the lunchroom. They were definitely hungry right then.  
  
Sora was sitting in a corner, scribbling down some important notes in her new school diary.   
  
Mr. Ishida had definitely provided her some new school materials and they were all decorated with... flowers. All sorts of flowers. Lavenders were the most noticeable. She wondered why _ probably Mr. Ishida's favorite flowers. But wasn't his favorite the red roses? Maybe he was just guessing they might translate her personality or feelings.   
  
The school had the usual rules like her previous one. The only thing that's a bit different is signing up for one of the extra curriculum groups. It's like a must need registration. Art seemed appealing, sport too... heck even music, computer and writing for the school newspaper. [1]  
  
Someone leaned over across her table as Sora faintly smelled peach. Peaches are good.   
  
"Hey, you must be the new girl everyone is talking about"   
  
Sora looked up, startled by the sudden approach.   
  
"Y-yes... I think" She added the last few words just in case...  
  
The girl just smiled, running her fingers through her fallen long brown hair. Sora just felt at ease once the girl smiled. It was as if she was looking at her best friend from her old school. Her best friend...  
  
"I'm sorry I've startled you. I'm Tachikawa Mimi by the way. You seem to be a nice girl"  
  
Sora arched an eyebrow. Looks can be deceiving, especially those whom you can't 'read'. 'Read' as in trying to 'feel' if they have bad intentions. But then again no one can be sure of other's intentions just by looking.   
  
Mimi just chuckled and leaned over Sora's work.   
  
"The others are kind of jealous because of your flowery accessories. They think they have some meanings just by buying certain sorts of flowery stuff"   
  
The other looked confused as Mimi smiled faintly.  
  
"I take that you've no idea girls here can be so... superstitious or something when it comes to certain nature collections."   
  
//Eh? What is she talking about? Did Mr. Ishida just picked out the beautiful flowery accessories by accident?//  
  
"How did they know I'm new around here?" Sora looked thoughtful as she recalled having heard Mimi's first attempt to speak to her.   
  
"Because of the way you look and walk I guess"  
  
Mimi shrugged and clasped her hands together. Suddenly Mimi laughed out loud after staring at the confused Sora. It was surprisingly a nice laughter_more like hearing twinkles from bells. "I lied. I just wanted to know where you got those roses" Mimi pointed at Sora's new notebooks.   
  
Sora blinked "Huh?"   
  
The more Mimi talked to her, the more she got confused. //What's she implying?//   
  
Mimi beamed and pointed at Sora's notebooks.  
  
"I noticed you had a lot of flowery accessories once you got into class. You and I are in the same History class. And special red roses are my favorites. I've been searching for things related to red roses ever since their meaning and beauty fascinated me. I couldn't find the notebooks though..." She eyed Sora's new notebooks wishfully and sighed.   
  
For a moment they sat in silence, both of them were deep in their thoughts_even if they didn't notice it. Sora observed Mimi for a while. Mimi had long brown hair, which really gave out peach scents. She'd red eyes_much like hers and pale smooth skin that contrasted to Sora's own tanned skin. Mimi really reminded her of her best friend from her old school. The air, which she gave away, was comforting.   
  
"You can have them if you want. Besides they're still new..." Sora broke the silence. Mimi's eyes sparkled as she beamed hopefully at Sora.   
  
"Really? You mean it?"   
  
//Gee... she must be really obsessed with red roses// Sora smiled faintly and picked out the notebooks in question. She pushed them towards Mimi, whose smile brightened every minute. How strange can people be whenever they get what they really want?  
  
"ARIGATOU!!" Mimi sang out and hugged the notebooks. "You don't know how much these red roses mean to me" She beamed at Sora, who was still trying to digest an over-obsessive feeling of being so into red roses. She wondered why someone like Mimi was so into red roses. Maybe she's the romantic type... longing for true love?   
  
"Uhm... how did this..." Sora waved her hand around to express the whole situation she wanted to ask. "... love for red roses begin, Tachikawa-san?"   
  
Mimi smiled and put down the notebooks. Her eyes held a distant look as she looked down at her clasped hands.   
  
//Sora's eyes hold curiosity// Mimi noted and sighed unconsciously.  
  
"It's a childhood obsession. I don't remember when, but I'm sure it was around grade school when I was still unaware of my surroundings. I've this bad sense of direction. I mean really, really bad sense of direction. I often wander around and get lost.   
  
Whenever I got lost I cried, because this empty feeling wouldn't go away. Then there's this special someone who always came to look for me. He always notices whenever I was gone or lost. He would say the sweetest things to me and give me flowers.   
  
Red roses of course. He said it has this meaning that fits his feelings for me and might make me happy because it always made him happy. Back then I never knew what he meant, but it definitely made me happy once he reassured me that it could make me happy.   
  
He disappeared without a trace after I turned 9. He never did contact me afterwards. But even so... I still hold his happiness in me whenever I go search for more red roses." Mimi chuckled lightly as she flushed, feeling so embarrassed. It almost told her that she had a childhood crush. But it wasn't she noted, because she couldn't recall having fuzzy feelings for that boy.   
  
"Mother always teases me about the red roses because she thinks they are romantic. I never knew what red roses meant until I started getting too curious about meanings of this flower and that flower... and the meaning was definitely worth of making me happy"   
  
Mimi stopped abruptly and smiled sadly. Her eyes began to sting and her vision got watery. It's as if she could faintly feel the burning in her chest that was supposed to be there back then and not now. So why crying now...   
  
"I know it's weird, but I guess it doesn't matter anyways. He might never come back..." The tone she used was soft, wishful and yet heartbreakingly.   
  
Sora strained her ears to hear the last sentence and sighed inwardly.   
  
//Definitely a childhood crush//   
  
"Cheer up. Maybe he's just around the corner waiting for the right opportunity to strike" Sora blinked at her sudden word choice. Since when was so into giving advices to people with love problems when she herself never got the opportunity to love someone differently. She waved away her confusion and handed Mimi her handkerchief.   
  
Mimi smiled faintly and wiped away the tears.   
  
"The irony is that I've forgotten how he looks like..."   
  
"That bad, huh?" a new voice said sympathetically.   
  
Both girls blinked and looked up at the source of the new voice. Someone was eavesdropping...   
  
"Taichi-san" Sora blinked again. "What are you doing here?"  
  
"Had been looking for you, Sora. But found ya here anyways" He answered as he shot his innocent eyes at Mimi's directions.   
  
Taichi was sitting across Sora's desk, holding a bag of popcorn. He seemed to be listening intently. The look on his face was like concentrating on one target, Sora noted. He shoved some popcorn into his mouth as if watching a good movie. In this case; listening to a certain someone's story.  
  
"Don't let me stop you. Go on... what happened afterwards?" Taichi waved good-heartedly at Mimi as he shoved some more popcorn into his mouth.   
  
Mimi's lips twitch in a small smile as her face flushed. She felt uncomfortable to share something like that to a guy, especially when it's about her obsession for red roses. Sometimes it's too embarrassing to even tell. She just felt like telling Sora. It just felt right to tell Sora about the reason.  
  
  
  
"Nothing. It's the end..." she whispered and looked wishfully at her new notebooks.   
  
"At least she's one of the very few girls who aren't flinging themselves into Yamato's arms" Taichi whispered into Sora's ear as he munches on his popcorns. He was still looking expectantly at Mimi, maybe she might get a chance to find the guy_whoever he might be.   
  
Sora scowled as her eyes darkened. Why must Taichi mention that name at the moment of being understanding? Or was is appreciative of hearing about someone's crush.   
  
"Aren't you going to accompany your FRIEND?" Sora hissed as she shot him a glare. The glare was actually not really meant for Taichi since the guy was so nice enough to even escort her around. She just felt like it, glaring whenever Yamato is mentioned.   
  
Taichi ignored the glare. He knew pretty well she didn't mean to glare at him. He looked at the notebooks, as if interested into red roses and popped some more popcorns into his mouth.   
  
"Can't. His fans are chasing him. And Yamato-fans are quite scary"   
  
Sora opened her mouth to say something, but was quickly cut off when Mimi exclaimed.   
  
"So you're Ishida-kun's best friend" Mimi realized as she blinked at Taichi. Taichi nodded as he munches on his popcorn again.   
  
"Yeah... what's up?" He flashed her a grin and reached out to pick up the notebooks.  
  
"Nothing... just surprised that you and Takenouchi-san are being so familiar with each other" Mimi smiled as she looked at Sora. "Well, I've got to go eat... I'm starving. Oh! By the way Takenouchi-san, you can have my peach blossomed notebooks since I'll be using yours. Peach has a nice odor, you know?" Mimi added quickly as she stood up. Sora nodded in agreement and smiled at Mimi, remembering that she reminded her of a certain best friend.   
  
Mimi passed her peach blossomed notebooks to Sora and waved good-bye afterwards. She disappeared around the corner while hugging the Sora's notebooks closely.   
  
"Interesting topic" Taichi broke their silence as he put away the empty bag, which was once filled with popcorn. Sora eyed him playfully and leaned forward to talk in privacy.   
  
"So... you like what you see or hear?"   
  
Taichi flushed. [2]  
  
*~*~*~*~*  
  
Yamato was walking around, searching for his best friend.   
  
//Where the heck is that guy?//   
  
He frowned and ignored all the flirting signs the girls were throwing in his way. Taichi had promised to stay close so that they might go for a plan C since plan B didn't quite work like he'd expected. His soon-to-be-wife got the nerves to be so 'nice' in a nature that made him wanted to barf.   
  
//Where the heck is he?!!!//   
  
He'd searched the usual places where Taichi might hang around: in the gardens, among the schoolyard, mingling with other friends, the halls even the classrooms. So where can this guy be?   
  
Yamato walked past one of the doors, namely the door which leads to a very dark library. Taichi would never be in the library during lunch since he hated to be around old books and scrolls, especially when libraries tended to be a bit creepy. So that counted the library out.   
  
So what about the gym building?   
  
But unknown to Yamato, inside the library there was a certain brown-haired guy leaving through a thick book: "Flowers encyclopedia" [3]. Taichi was buried between a whole pile of books as he leaved through its content. He frowned a few times as his eyes scanned the information.  
  
The book provided him a lot of information about certain flowers. Flowers that held some hidden meanings in the literature world or whatever world they might be. Heck! Maybe even in the flower world? Who knows!   
  
Most photos and info in the books were wild flowers: excentric-looking flowers and hard-to-reach flowers.  
  
"Intriguing" He whispered as he read on.   
  
//But not enough for my plan. Better get them home to study more about these sorts of beauties//  
  
He scanned scanned the other titles of books about flowers and mountained them upon each other. He closed the book which he was studying a minute ago and piled it upon the others. Taichi slowly carried the heavy books to the librarian.  
  
The librarian looked up, surprise was written all over her face. Yagami Taichi never likes to read!! Even if the teacher forces everyone to make a book report. So why such a big pile? Something must have gone wrong. She frowned suspiciously at him through her thick, reading glasses.   
  
Taichi smiled sheepishly at her and placed the books on the counter.  
  
"I like to check these books out, Mrs. Miyuki" He said calmly.   
  
She picked out her stamp and eyed him from the corners of her eyes. "So... since when has the great Yagami Taichi started getting interested in books? Encyclopedia about flowers, eh?" She began stamping the date of return in every second page of the book.   
  
Taichi smiled when he noticed the playful tone in her question. "Someone had given me inspiration to look some flowers up!" He answered truthfully. "Red Carnation suits thy personally"  
  
He cheered inwardly when the librarian stopped in her tracks. She shot her head up to look straight at him. Her eyes were penetrating his innocent brown ones. There's no doubt she was definitely affected by Taichi's comment. The twinkle in her eyes told Taichi she definitely knew what he meant with the flower.   
  
"Have a nice day, Yagami-san" she smiled sweetly at him as she piled the last book upon the rest. The boy had potential, she stated silently.   
  
He smiled back and picked up the pile. He was glad his memory didn't fail him this time. He'd read about Carnations a few minutes ago and he kind of thought they looked pretty. Taichi was definitely amazed he had memorized the meanings of the which color the flower can attribute.   
  
"Well, I guess I can start studying this intriguing subject of flowers later" He said faintly to himself.   
  
He closed the library door ever so carefully and turned around with a smile.   
  
"What's up with the books?"  
  
....  
  
End chapter 9b  
  
1: I know nothing about school newspaper -_-;;  
  
2: Err... I suppose it's not really going to the Taichi+Mimi pairing. Because I didn't plan on pairing them together.   
  
3: Name whatever you like. ^-^ There are tons of flower books.  
  
Rizza426: I'm sorry to disappoint you Rizza, I've to put the plot back together. The new idea was deleted and put up as a side-fic called "Mayhem". I might continue that strange fic :) But anyways... I hope you're not angry with this chapter ;_; but thanks for telling me you're still around reading ^_^.   
  
scorpion05: I've deleted the previous chapter 8 and 9 and put them up as a side-fic "Mayhem". I might continue that weird story. Sorry to disappoint the fun you're already having. But I'll try to keep this fic entertaining ^_^. Thanks for reviewing anyways.  
  
oooooooohhhhhhhhhh: ^_^ Good. I just hope I can write all the chapters out as soon as possible so that I won't have to disappoint anyone this long. Thank you for reviewing :) I'm still practicing the writing.  
  
Venursia: Aa... I see . I knew my style is a bit rusty. I've read my stories over and over again, the style is still a bit rusty. Just like what you said it's chocolate frosting. I'm still working on a style since description is a bit hard. Especially when I write multiple chapters x_x they can be so hard sometimes. Thanks for pointing that out ^-^ I'll do by best.   
  
LOL: ::blushes:: #^_^# Thank you for reviewing. I'm glad you're still enthusiastic about this story even if I know the whole thing need some rewriting here and there . But anyways, I'm glad you find it entertaining.   
  
mattXsora: ^_^ Like I wrote in my notes, luckily "Taste of life" reviewers are honest and supportive. The other idea is just set up as a side-fic "Mayhem". I'm happy you like the original idea and uh... sorry for shocking you. I sometimes didn't think I have a tendency to shock people that awfully. Sorry ^^;;  
  
Author's notes:  
  
How many symbolic stuff have you noticed? I guess it's too straightforward to even notice them. And this is still a boring chapter ;_;. And the stuff with Mimi in this chapter should be a bit easy to figure out the symbolic stuff I'm trying to weave in.   
  
=^_^=cin 


	11. Chapter 10

Taste of life  
  
Chapter: 10  
  
Author: Nekocin  
  
Email: Neko_cin_6@hotmail.com  
  
Disclaimer: characters are not mine. Fic is mine.   
  
Warnings: I forgot to warn everyone on my first chapter -_____-;; Beware of OOC. Oh, it might not be as entertaining as my first few chapters... because I'm trying to be a bit serious. This chapter sounds a bit dramatic for some reasons unknown. Still a bit short.  
  
Author's notes: I'm sorry for taking this long to update. I've been getting more and more new ideas and such. (I'm kind of jumping to one fandom to the other by the way). But I'll try not to dump my fics. I've been thinking about revising this fic, but I guess I just have to finish it first and then revise it just to make it more readable. I feel guilty for leaving you guys hanging a few months ago. Had writer's block again x_X. My first year as a freshman in Senior High is almost about to end. Next week begins our 2nd round repetition and I'm quite a bit nervous since I've 12 subjects. ;_;   
  
So... *gets pinned by forks* O.O;; Okay, okay... I'll stop babbling.   
  
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"What's with the books?"  
  
Taichi looked startled for awhile, but then wiped off his startled look. "Hey, Yamato" he grinned and moved away from the library's door.   
  
Yamato had crossed his arms over his chest and stared incredulously at Taichi. He eyed the books in Taichi's arms suspiciously and looked disapprovingly at Taichi.   
  
"What are you implying here?" Yamato pointed at the books. As Taichi's best friend, Yamato definitely knew the fact Taichi hated reading books. Seeing Taichi with a bundle of thick books was quite suspicious in Yamato's opinion.  
  
Something must have happened to Taichi while he was away from him during lunch.   
  
The world must be coming to and end, because the last time he remembered Taichi putting up a fight when he was forced to read a book.   
  
Taichi smiled. "I'm studying flowers if that's what you're wondering. And it kind of have something to do with our plan E" he whispered mysteriously and cheered inwardly when he saw Yamato's determined look. It just simply meant Yamato would agree to do anything once he heard about their new plan.   
  
//Aa... the wonders what imagination can do// Taichi mused as he pictured his best friend getting his soon-to-be wife some flowers. It might be too suspicious to Sora... but it was kind of sweet to have Yamato charm her without noticing.  
  
"What's the plan?"   
  
Taichi grinned evilly that went unnoticed to his friend. Yamato was just simply too occupied with some victorious praise in his head.   
  
"Do you know to what Sora is allergic to?" Taichi leaned closer to whisper into Yamato's ear.  
  
*~*~*~*~*  
  
If it wasn't for the fact that Sora had felt something was quite wrong during her last class, she wouldn't be frowning confusedly the whole time.  
  
Hawk eyes bore into her head like arrows through their prey. Sora would've ignored the intimacy right away. But for some reasons unknown the hawkish eyes kept increasing tenfold whenever she tried to ignore them.   
  
That's why she was sitting stiffly in her seat, while paying attention to her class. The irritating pricking of nervousness found their way across her usually warm skin, giving her goose bumps.  
  
//Damn! Today is really not my day// She thought sourly. Sora stared blankly at the scribbles on certain Literature points. It didn't take a rocker scientist to know whose eyes those had belong to. She imagined an obvious arrow pointing at a certain Ishida student.   
  
//Creep!// She scowled inwardly. Why she'd easily accepted the engagement was beyond her. She was only trying to be nice to him that morning.  
  
Feeling nauseated, she carefully looked over her shoulder. Bad idea.  
  
Mr. Ishida also known as Yamato was GRINNING at her. He was really grinning at her albeit mischievously. That odd twinkle in his eyes gave away how much he was enjoying_enjoying whatever he was really thinking about at the moment.   
  
Sora's face twitched a bit in disgust. Note: A sloppy grin on a dreamy face like Ishida Yamato's face did not match. The guy really looked... out of place.  
  
//I wonder what he's grinning about...// She turned her attention back to the teacher and scowled. //Maybe he's plotting evil... the guy is definitely childish.//  
  
At the farthest corner of the class, Taichi was twitching embarrassedly. Beads of sweatdrops adorned his forehead when he noticed Yamato's expression throughout class.   
  
Some of the other guys were even giving him confused looks. Taichi's Yamato-kun's best friend. Why is he sitting that far from Yamato-kun? It's out of place to see them so apart. They all wondered.  
  
That's easy. Because Taichi wanted to sit as far away from the weird Yamato. What's with the guy and unusual facial expressions?  
  
Taichi didn't really expect Yamato to be so accepting about the weird plan. The guy was definitely inexperienced when it came to personal stuff. Hehehe. Yamato even looked scarier with that Cheshire-car-like grin. Ugh! The guy was thoroughly evil...   
  
Taichi wondered slightly if Takenouchi was going to be just as gullible as Yamato when plan C would be put to work.   
  
He hoped his hard work would be appreciated later on. Maybe he could add some conditions or something. Maybe he should...  
  
"... And now for the cast!" the teacher smiled brightly as she pulled out her notebook.   
  
Taichi snapped out of his current thoughts. He frowned in confusion as low groans reached his ears. Seemed like his fellow-students hated doing something for Literature class. [1]  
  
//What?//  
  
"Oh, don't be such a spoil sport, class! It's fun. it's time to show how good you can act" the teacher remarked excitedly. A young woman dressed in a soft pink uniform. Somehow the pink really did match her profile. The teacher even had a pair of ruby eyes, they somehow reminded him of Takenouchi-san. Her purple hair seemed surprisingly quite soft and well cared of_unlike some of the female teachers he'd known in his past.  
  
//Seemed like I've missed a part of the school program// Taichi raised an eyebrow at his teacher. If the Literature teacher's really hyper or happy, something eeeevil must be lurking in the corners of that notebook of hers. He eyed the notebook warily, maybe even suspiciously...  
  
"But Miss Inoue, what if some of us don't know the story?" one of the girls remarked, smiling nervously or maybe even hopefully at the teacher. She wanted to escape the teacher's wrath. Her friends nodded in agreement.  
  
"Aa, that's no problem. Everyone is getting a copy of this book here" Miss Inoue smiled softly and patted the book on her desk.   
  
The book was really thick... judging from the thickness, it must be around 700+ pages.   
  
Taichi's eyes bugged out. How was he going to read that book?  
  
"But-but-but teacher, what if none of us can finish THAT whole story?" this time one of the guys remarked nervously, maybe even hopelessly.   
  
Miss Inoue just smiled brightly. There was really no way any of her students could understand her methods as the Literature teacher.   
  
"Maybe you're right..." she said mysteriously and eyed the class carefully through her glasses. It never bothered the class that her glasses were a bit too big for her. They actually made her much more mature and yet... maybe even attractive.   
  
"Huh?"   
  
Miss Inoue winked. "Even though you might have a point there I'm still in charge of this activity. In other words I'll writing the script myself. Anyways... let's get back to where I've left off"   
  
She ignored the stares she was getting from her students and flipped through her notebook.   
  
Sora frowned at the teacher's attitude. Something told her that Miss Inoue was more than what she let on. Judging from the way her classmates had reacted_not counting Ishida Yamato_the play might be very... interesting if the teacher wrote something based from THAT thick book. How bad could this play be?   
  
An unconscious smile touched her lips as she felt satisfied with her observation. She might get to like this class after all... Damn that Ishida! Spoiling her fun in sharing most of her favorite classes with him. Damn him!  
  
"...since you're new here I think I've an idea who you're going to be..." Miss Inoue's voice snapped her back to reality.  
  
"What?" Sora voiced her confusion when she looked up, startled that Miss Inoue had taken the time to walk up towards her. She quickly recovered from her temporarily surprise.  
  
The teacher didn't seem to mind that Sora hadn't been paying attention. She just smiled sincerely. What is it with her and the smiles? She looked almost... amused.  
  
"I was saying since you're new here. I think I've an idea who you're going to be in this play..." Miss Inoue scribbled something quickly in her notebook as her voice trailed off. "... how about Melody herself? Yeah, that's a good one. You're Melody from now on. You're the main character. You're the angsty type. You're going to be the heroine in this one. Yeah... yeah... yup. I like the idea"   
  
Sora titled her head in confusion. Miss Inoue was babbling as if she wasn't there... maybe even as if she was talking to one side of her. Before she knew it a pair of red eyes was observing her face.   
  
Suddenly feeling conscious of her looks, Sora flushed and tried not to flinch from the criticizing look Miss Inoue was sending her. She knew she didn't have much of a high opinion on her looks. It was sort of a weakness maybe. Heck. Even the teacher looked pretty, prettier than her even [3].   
  
Noting from the uneasy look Takenouchi-san was sending her, Miss Inoue just smiled reassuringly. "Perfect!" She commented to no one in particular as she clenched her fist in satisfaction. "You're perfect for the role!"   
  
Sora was startled by the teacher's comment. //Perfect?//   
  
"Inoue-sensei?..."   
  
"You're Melody now. As for your counterpart..." Miss Inoue directed her thoughts towards the rest of the class. Students cringed involuntarily. Even though the Literature teacher is nice and all, she could be very picky.   
  
"Ishida-kun! Heheheheh... I know you've your fan club so why not? Even if it's a bit stereotypical. Don't worry. Since I'll be handling the script it might have some unexpected things. So it's not a problem. Since you're the cute one, why not play Ryuu?" Miss Inoue beamed and strode gracefully back to the front of the class.  
  
Having snapped out of his thoughts, Yamato dropped his jaw. "EH?!!! The counterpart?!"   
  
Taichi felt himself smile at that turn of events. Even Takenouchi-san looked shocked.  
  
This was making his plan even more interesting.  
  
He watched as the rest of the girls of his class grumble something out of jealousy about Sora getting the heroine part. It was amusing to see them getting jealous because of the casting and yet... very, very dangerous. Besides no one really had an idea that Takenouchi-san's going to be the soon-to-be Mrs. Ishida. Taichi chuckled to himself, receiving weird looks from the nearby guys from his side of the row.  
  
*~*~*~*~*  
  
"How is she doing?" Mr. Takenouchi asked worriedly. Mr. Takenouchi and Mr. Ishida were discussing the future of both Sora and Yamato.   
  
No matter how hard Mr. Takenouchi had tried to forget the look Sora had had on when she left, he just couldn't help but feel guilty about the whole situation. Sora... she did mention she was in her room the other night. Mr. Takenouchi sighed warily. He wondered if Sora's going under some kind of psychological pressure or something.  
  
Mr. Ishida didn't have to ask whom he was referring. It was quite obvious his best friend had endured some kind of pressure. He, himself, felt piteous about the arrangement. But heck! He had arranged it. He had brought them together! What more did he need to do?   
  
Force them in love? That's... interesting, but not possible.  
  
Suddenly he felt conscious of his actions. Why had he actually made that arrangement?  
  
"She's doing fine according to my resources..." Mr. Ishida answered patiently, expertly erasing his self-consciousness of having done something terrible with both Yamato and Sora's destinies.   
  
Mr. Takenouchi looked skeptical at him and sighed again. "I'm just making sure I've not destroyed Sora's world unintentionally. You should've seen her eyes when she'd agreed that night. It was... not Sora. She looked creepier than I'd expected from her. And besides that she's MY DAUGHTER. I feel as if I don't know her anymore than she knew me." He explained and looked up at Mr. Ishida.   
  
"She's going to be fine. I'm sure you must have figured it out already. My son is a bit... difficult to handle. If she's having it bad here, she could just walk out of this house this instant. I doubt she's really someone who gives up this easily. I've seen the way they glare at one another... it's almost funny to see them like that, you know?" Mr. Ishida assured and chuckled to himself. Mr. Takenouchi frowned lightly at his friend as if he'd never seen him before.   
  
"I'll try to keep her comfortable" Mr. Ishida directed his gaze at his Sora's father. Suddenly he looked old in Mr. Takenouchi's eyes. It was as if loneliness had consumed his youth after all those years living with a son who had more energy than he'd ever had in his time. Mr. Takenouchi wondered if his friend needed a woman figure in his household who might give the younger Ishida the love he never could give after the death of Mrs. Ishida.   
  
"You're a nice man" Mr. Takenouchi commented sincerely, he eyed Mr. Ishida softly. "I believe you're doing the right thing even if a part of me disagree of letting my daughter go like that. It's Yamato, isn't it?"   
  
The composed look crumbled as soon as he'd heard that. Coming from a friend who'd not seen in a long time was quite impressive.   
  
"I do not really worry about my younger son's welfare. Yes..." Mr. Ishida took a deep breath and closed his eyes. "Yes. I feel as if he needs some support. Since Takeru-kun, my younger son, was too young to remember his mother's face, he didn't really grief for her death. Yamato-kun, however, was... close to her. It was like a death blow to him when she lied on her death bed. That time he didn't understand why she'd to leave... but now that he does, he refused to love. It's in his nature I think"   
  
Mr. Ishida took a shaky breath and swallowed nervously. "It's in his nature to love someone and yet... when special people leave_he views it as such_he feels as if they'd abandoned him. It was more like an emotional pain he refused to acknowledge after his mother's death. He just refused to be someone who could easily get to love and be loved."   
  
*~*~*~*~*  
  
"I can't believe I'm stuck with her again!" Yamato complained as soon as he'd bumped into Taichi on his way to his ride home. Taichi bit back a smile. He was very understanding enough not to comment about that. It made his plan a bit easier.   
  
"I'm still here, you know!" Sora retorted. After their last class, she'd been keeping quite a distance from the two just to get out of school. By the way, she also needed a ride back to the Ishida estate so... that's why she's sort of following them.   
  
Yamato threw her a dirty look, not noticing his fan club closing on to them. "It's rude to eavedrop on people's conversation, you know?"   
  
"Look who's talking!" Sora glared, suddenly feeling her anger welling up. She thought she'd left the real Sora in the mirror, but now she was very sure that Sora was still there. Inside of her. Why hadn't she abandoned her real self yet? Maybe it was because of that snob!  
  
"How dare you talk back, Takenouchi!" a new voice broke in. This startled the trio as soon as the voice had neither come out of their throat. To their utter horror they'd found themselves inside a circle of Yamato fans. They'd formed walls around the trio!   
  
They were all Yamato fans indeed. Mean looks adorned their ones love-sick faces. Taichi sighed warily as Yamato panicked inwardly. Sora seemed to be the only one who cringed noticeably under the looks the girls were sending her.   
  
EEP!   
  
....  
  
End chapter 10  
  
Endnotes: (sorry about the long notes)  
  
1: How do you guys actually call those classes? In my country we take Literature along with the language. Like Dutch class with Dutch Literature, English class with English Literature and Spanish class with Spanish Literature.   
  
2: -_-;; Had no names in mind, so I put Inoue Miyako from Digimon 02 in this chapter.  
  
3: A woman's weakness, I guess. Doesn't anyone feel it whenever people just look at you and you feel conscious of your looks? It's like they're really judging if you're cute, pretty... whatever. *blushes*  
  
scorpion05: ^_^ Thank you for keeping around. I'm trying to finish the fic as soon as possible since I fear you readers will hunt me down till the fic comes to a conclusion. ^_^ As for your questions I haven't thought about Taichi knowing Mimi and such -__-;; I'll think about it. As for the pranks... I'm racking my brains to find a good opportunity. Thank you for reviewing. @-----  
  
Imagi chan: -_- Aa... one of the negative stuff about my writing. I've no beta-reader and such since I kind of read and correct my own stuff. But I'll try to do some justice with my grammar problem -__-;; I tell others about their grammar errors, but can't seem to find my own. Anyways thank you for reviewing. @-----  
  
Venursia: *squirms* Gomen, gomen, gomen, gomen... it's still a bit hard to keep the storyline in check once my anonymous muse is pinching me to work on another new fic or work on the other fics. I've a few fics to go, fics that haven't been updated since they last had been published. *blushes* Thank you for keeping around. I'm sorry if it's getting a bit cheesy or corny. I hope this chapter is alright ^___^. Anyways thank you for reviewing. @-----   
  
mizuki no yume: *blushes* You think so? I'm glad... although it might get a bit 'off' here and there. I just hope this chapter does its justice to your interest. ^___^ Anyways thank you for reviewing. @-----  
  
Serene Faerie: ^^;; So I assume you 'like' it? Thank you for reviewing ^_^. @-----  
  
Julieta Perez: O.O;; You like it too *drops jaw* Now I'm worried about the ending _;; I can't seem to have an idea HOW to make it a bit more in depth instead of useless humour. But I really am glad you're excited. Thank you for reviewing. @-----  
  
Julieta Perez: You reviewed again? OoO Gee... you guys sound so desperate. ;_; I can't seem to find any good Sorato stories around since I've been a bit far away from the Digimon fandom. I mean I read stories of said pairing just to get into the mood... now I'm not really sure if I can do that. Thank you for reviewing. @-----  
  
Does anyone know any good Sorato fics? *twiddles her fingers* I'm trying to get into the mood after two weeks or so... -__-; I guess I might be pinned again for being late for updates...  
  
=^_^=cin 


	12. Chapter 11

**Taste of life  
Chapter: **11  
**Author:** Nekocin  
**Email:** Neko [dash] cin [dash] 6 hotmail [dot] com  
**Disclaimer: ** characters are not mine. Fic is mine.  
**Warnings: ** OOC, weirdness  
**Author's notes:** surrenders Okay, I know I've no right to explain myself eyes her readers -if there any around - guiltily I've been away way too long. But compared to my Gundam Wing fanfictions, this Digimon fanfiction is in luck... sort of ;; And some of the parts don't make much sense to me. sweatdrops This is pretty short.

* * *

**Chapter 11:  
**  
_"I can't believe I'm stuck with her again!" Yamato complained as soon as he'd bumped into Taichi on his way to his ride home. Taichi bit back a smile. He was very understanding enough not to comment about that. It made his plan a bit easier.  
"I'm still here, you know!" Sora retorted. After their last class, she'd been keeping quite a distance from the two just to get out of school. By the way, she also needed a ride back to the Ishida estate so... that's why she's sort of following them.  
  
Yamato threw her a dirty look, not noticing his fan club closing on to them. "It's rude to eavesdrop on people's conversation, you know?"  
"Look who's talking!" Sora glared, suddenly feeling her anger welling up. She thought she'd left the real Sora in the mirror, but now she was very sure that Sora was still there. Inside of her. Why hadn't she abandoned her real self yet? Maybe it was because of that snob!  
  
"How dare you talk back, Takenouchi!" a new voice broke in. This startled the trio as soon as the voice had neither come out of their throat. To their utter horror they'd found themselves inside a circle of Yamato fans. They'd formed walls around the trio!  
  
They were all Yamato fans indeed. Mean looks adorned their once love-sick faces. Taichi sighed warily as Yamato panicked inwardly. Sora seemed to be the only one who cringed noticeably under the looks the girls were sending her.  
  
EEP! _

* * *

"Uhm..." Sora opened her mouth to say... something, anything!  
  
"Takenouchi, show some respect, will you?" one of the girls demanded.  
  
"Uh..." She looked at the guys for some help, but neither ones were looking at her. Taichi was observing the fan club absently while Ishida looked as if he stood rooted to the floor.  
  
"You're standing next to _**HIM**_!"  
  
Sora didn't have to guess who's the **_HIM_**.  
  
Yamato felt mortified. His fans were here, Sora's here... and Taichi too. He didn't know whom he hated best, his fans or his soon-to-be wife or his stupid best friend. They were all making him nauseous: his fans for being his fans -squealing fans-, Takenouchi for being the soon-to-be wife with a bad attitude and Taichi? Taichi's a dork! That guy couldn't even warn him before he got surrounded by his fans! And then there's also the issue with Takeru, and the damn Neko-chan! And his father! And-  
  
"..." Sora kept silent, waiting for them to continue. Her attention shifted to one girl to another, bored somehow.  
  
"Don't just stand there! Say you're sorry!" probably the head of the club said irritably.  
  
"... what has that got to do with you all ganging up against me?" she wondered out loud.  
  
"As a loyal fan of Yamato-sama, I cannot allow you to speak in such a manner to him" the head proudly used her no-nonsense voice to prove her point... which didn't prove anything to Sora.  
  
From the corner of Sora's eyes, Ishida went beet red because of the girl's obvious way-too-embarrassing praise. If the guy hadn't been such a jerk, she would have thought him as cute and shy. But that's not the problem right now.  
  
"So you're saying-"_ that I've to apologize to that jerk?_, Sora let out a meek questioning smile, looking uncharacteristically dense in Taichi's opinion.  
  
"Precisely!" The head of Yamato's fan club exclaimed, her eyes glinting in delight.  
  
_Oh my god, she could read people's minds!  
_  
"And if-" _ I don't want to._ She tried again, her eyes wide in innocence.  
  
Taichi didn't know what Sora was trying to accomplish, but it was kind of amusing to see her act like that. Maybe having Sora as Yamato's counterpart in the play was a very good, no, brilliant idea. All he had to do is... probably make either of them fall in love. He hoped his plan will work... it HAS to.  
Hmmm... he's looking forward to flowers floating in the air, or maybe violins in his ears, or maybe birds singing some cheesy nonsense melody, or maybe- Gah! He's going to strangle Yamato for dragging him into such a situation..., when he's done with playing the matchmaker that is. His friend couldn't even act his age once Sora moved in. He's issues. Period.  
  
"Then of course my members will make your life H-" _ Hell._ The head of the fan club immediately brought her hand to her mouth and nervously looked around.  
  
Sora looked thoughtful for a while and sighed slowly. "Do you want a deal or something?"  
  
"Huh?"  
  
A strange sort of grin appeared on her face as she opened her eyes. "You know, a deal. You sound like someone who has done this many, many times before"  
Taichi dropped his thoughtful look and blinked at Sora. Yamato sent her a sharp look immediately.  
  
"...oh, well yes." the girl was flustered as shifted her weight to her other foot, looking uncomfortably.  
  
Sora gave her a suggestive look.  
Almost as evil as Neko-chan's looks, Yamato shuddered slightly at the thought. Oh god! He's going to get married to humanly-built Neko-chan. Wait what's he thinking? He cannot marry her; _ COULD NOT_! It's out of the question, he needed to drive her away quickly before she poisoned his mind subtly. **EVIL**. She's evil!  
  
"Tell you what, you all can have a date with Yamato-sama here before he gets married" she blurted out carelessly, not seemingly bothered when she mentioned something personal in public.  
  
"REALLY?!" The girls exclaimed, looking hopefully.  
  
"WHAT?" Both Yamato and Taichi exclaimed, their eyes resembling big dinner plates for some strange reason.  
  
"ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?!" Yamato raised his voice above his fans' squeals.  
  
"YOU CAN'T EXPECT ME TO DATE EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM BEFORE MY WEDDING!"  
  
"I thought you didn't care about the wedding" Sora said carefully, surprised at Yamato's outburst. It wasn't really a joke; she had wanted him to date them. Really. Since the guy seemed to hate her guts, she'd decided to set him up with his fan club... they seemed to be very decent people.  
  
"YOU'RE RIGHT! I DON'T. BUT YOU CAN'T JUST GO ANNOUNCING THAT I'M AVAILABLE BEFORE I'M HOOKED UP!"  
  
"I-..."  
  
"HOW COULD YOU BE SO UNFEELING?"  
  
Erhm... that's not the right word to call Sora, but Taichi couldn't have said it better. Probably because he was not the one who's getting dates out of the blue. He watched from the sidelines as Yamato started ranting and raving in front of his fan club. How amusing.  
  
Sora looked as if she'd just realized her error, surprised and shocked. While the Yamato fan club...  
  
Whoops. Yamato mentioned the 'W' word.  
  
The fan club cringed under the voice, their eyes widening at the 'W' word.  
  
"What are you talking about?"  
  
"Wedding?"  
  
"What wedding?"  
  
"Is Yamato-sama going to get married?"  
  
"You never mentioned you were engaged!"  
  
"To whom?"  
  
"Is she any good?"  
  
"You've been deceiving us all this time!" one of the fan girls pointed an accusing finger at Yamato. She looked both angry and hurt. Some way or another the fan club focused their glares on Yamato.  
  
"So that's why you're wearing that ring!"  
  
"Cheater!"  
  
"Tell us who this wife of yours is!"  
  
Sora looked at the fan club and then at the horrified-looking Ishida. It's kind of strange, and sad to say the least. Ishida probably didn't deserve her careless thinking. Hm. Come to think of it, no one deserved it. She's just being cruel because she couldn't get back to being normal, a commoner. Her feelings suddenly clashed.  
Damn! Sora's really back!  
  
All Ishida's fault. It's all his fault! Sora closed her eyes and clenched her fists angrily. He didn't have to make her feel guilty about doing him a favor!  
  
"... It's no one's business!" Sora bit out through gritted teeth, glaring at Ishida suddenly. Her anger intensified her once-lifeless red eyes, making them look like a pair of flaming rubies; they would probably put the real rubies to shame. She's ANGRY. She didn't know with whom she's angry at, her soon-to-be husband or the fan girls... Taichi didn't count, since he hadn't done anything. Silently, she wondered why she was being a bit... over-concerned of the little error she'd done without thinking.  
  
Hell. She's protecting Ishida's scrawny ass here!  
  
The fan girls ignored her. They wanted a straight answer from their God [Yamato].  
  
Without any thought or whatsoever Sora stomped towards Taichi, grabbed him by his wrist ["Hey-!"] and dragged him along towards... Ishida. Their eyes clashed in colors and before either Ishida knew it Sora had already grabbed him by his wrist ["What the-?"].  
  
"Come on! We're late" She growled uncharacteristically to Ishida as she dragged the boys along.  
  
She stopped for a moment.  
  
"What's wrong?" Taichi wondered.  
  
Sora turned around and... scrutinized the fan girls with an even eviler glare. "Don't even dare" she spoke threateningly, referring to the girls following them for answers that were not of importance at the moment.  
At least the girls were rational enough to cower at the sight of an evil -btch- like Sora, and at least they understood those words clearly...  
Sora's way too scary when she's eviler than the evil she'd once shown to the boys, Taichi concluded.  
  
He smirked suddenly and looked at his best friend. Sora saved him... a crooked smile appeared on his face. Hmpf. His friend needed a woman to stand up for him? How fortunate and unfortunate. Maybe they can get hook up without his interference...  
  
Nah! He'll play his part anyways. Muahwahaha.

* * *

"I can't believe that just happened" A dumbstruck Taichi commented as they headed for their intended ride, a crooked smile playing on his lips.  
Yamato grunted something under his breath, glaring at no one in particular. His cheeks were still red... hmmm, maybe it's because of his mood swings getting the better of him these last few days.  
  
Taichi frowned at his friend, but then turned his gaze to Sora. She looked slightly pale, but relieved at the same time. They'd barely escaped the clutches of Yamato's fan club if it hadn't been for her...  
  
"... Me neither" she mutters softly and sends Yamato an unreadable look. Concern and guilt flashed in her softened red eyes. Maybe she shouldn't have said that... because she's actually the one who made matters worse.  
  
Isn't it?

* * *

**End chapter 11  
  
Endnotes:  
**  
I thank those who have read the story up till this story _ -and still like it-_. Truthfully, for some reasons I think this story is not so satisfying as I'd hoped for in the beginning. And as you see, my style is dropping even --;;  
  
**==cin**


	13. Chapter 12

**Taste of life  
Author:** Nekocin  
**Disclaimer: **characters are not mine. Fic is mine. The one bad word 'fudge' is also not mine.  
**Warnings: OOC, weirdness, OCs  
Author's notes:** Sadly, I've to admit I'm losing interest in writing more Digimon fanfictions. Probably because the fandom is so big and has a lot of good (hidden) writers here and there, whose stories are much more worth your time reading than my puny collection. I might write a few more one shots and maybe some more AUs (I know you all will probably avoid reading them, since I tend to take very long with updates nowadays when it comes to this fandom and Gundam Wingit's because I'm sophomore and because I've way too many anime series to keep my eyes on)   
Oh by the way, the previous chapter is replaced (since there were 2 of the same chapters, namely chapter 10), so be sure to read that one first before this continuing with this one. I believe it will be confusing if you just head.  
**Thank you for reading!  
**  
**Chapter 12  
**  
For the rest of the week, both main characters for the school play, Yamato and Sora, had been avoiding each other unnecessarilyunnecessarily, because even if they didn't want to see each other for weeks-slash-months-slash-years, they would still see each other, either at home or school.

-It couldn't be helped. They were just bound to meet again and again-, Taichi had thought when he noticed how drastically their attitudes towards one another had changed; Yamato, from an admirable young man to thisthis -scared-y cat- and Sora, once an indifferent lady to this more emotional one, think dramatic Juliet.

Taichi didn't know if he making any progress to get them together. The last few days he'd tried throwing either of them into each others arms. And yes, yes and yeshe did all those too.

He tried sending sappy love letters to Sora signed under Yamato's name. No such luck; Sora had torn them into millions of pieces, clearly having seen through the whole thing -or maybe not? She still thought Yamato had written them- and burnt them in the garden, when the Gardener was busy burning the dead leaves to ashes.

He tried sending the love letters reversed, meaning said letters were sent to Yama under Sora's name. Well, nothing much came out of it thoughit seemed whatever Sora's words had been that one day when they got cornered, they had hit Yamato gravely. Wonder if the guy's finally noticed his mistake of trying to drive someone like Sora away. Hmph. The poor bastard. Sora seemed like the perfect someone for him!

Other than love letters, he'd tried sending each of them little gifts and -oh my gosh- did either of them know how much money he'd spent on all those gifts together? His fortune would probably be bled away before he was qualified to be the head of his family. His father would instantly chastise him for being so careless.  
(He sighed sadly, but perked up immediately. He could borrow some money from Yamato in the near future if he was broke)

The gifts hadn't worked sadly. But the only improvement this time was actually that neither one of them had dumped the gifts into the trashthey kept the gifts. That's a whole improvement. Such troublesome people.

"Prrrr," Neko purred contently under Taichi's absent scratches behind its ears.  
He'd been sitting on that straight-back sofa chair with Neko curled up on his lap for the last few hours, brainstorming. He needed a plan while making use of his knowledge of hidden meanings behind the flowers.

As he continued to brainstorm, the last thing he heard was Neko purring in front of his face... "Mrow,"

* * *

Neko padded down the hall, elegantly swinging her tail from side to side. She occasionally looked up at the giant doors passing her sight with disinterest and continued her daily walk.

One of the doors at the end of the hall opened and someone stepped out. It was her master's brother and her all-time victim. Narrowing her eyes at the tall human, she quickly sped forward to launch herself at his shiny shoes

-only to find herself being picked up by the scruff of her neck. "KCHCHCHTTT! MROW! KCHCHCHTT!"

Solemn ice-blue eyes stared indifferently at her. Eyes that never had that look whenever he looked at her straight in the eye. Whatever the heck happened to the smug human? The evil human? The prissy human? The flaunting human?

"It's not nice to attack me, Neko-chan," the human said softly. Neko had an immediate heart-attack!

_Meow meow nya!  
_**Translation: **What the _-Fudge-_?

He'd probably noticed her eyes widening in surprisedo cats even understand human language?but did not erase the look of solemnity from his face.

"If you're looking for Takenouchi," his eyes darkened, turning azure, as he spoke in that same soft tone before pausing. Something between a cross of pain and helplessness swept over his face, blatant enough for Neko to see the changes.

Whatever the_ -fudge-_ happened to this human?

The human let out a troubled chuckle and put Neko back down on the floor. "never mind," he whispered and ran down the stairs, leaving Neko without a fight. For once.

Neko could only blink and tilt its head to one side, questioning. The -fudge-? The human had escaped her grasp without a scratch. Amazing. He'd finally found some brains to work on. Muahwaha, I mean, Meownyanyanyanya! Neko will some day rule the household!

In one day she'd ruled her master and that girl with the pretty red eyes. In one week she'd won over that guy with the big hair. And now, she'd won over the stupid one with the weird obsessionswho exactly liked to stack up all the presents in the closet without opening any of them? Who in their right mind liked to argue with a cat like her? Such a weird bastard.

Oh well. Neko made up her mind and continued her peaceful walk, her tail swishing side to side

"Oh, there you are Neko-chan!" She found herself being scooped up into someone's arm. "Where have you been? I've been looking all over for you,"

"Mew," Neko answered sweetly and looked up at her master.  
**Translation: I'm right here. Right here.  
**  
Master laughed heartily, his eyes crinkling up and his smile widening into a grin. He always had the smile on his facesuch a gentle smilewhenever he looked down at her in his arms, unlike master's brother. Master's face would immediately lit up when she answer him sweetly, and he would promise her a very good meal afterwards.  
Sometimes she wondered why exactly master and the other guy were blood-related. Cats like her usually don't have great sibling relationships.

"Come on, Neko-chan. I hope you haven't been bothering big brother," Master's eyelids slid open again, revealing the same pair of blue eyes Neko had seen previouslyonly this time, the eyes were showing complete contentment.

"Mew," Neko widened her eyes, if possible, and perked her ears gently, just to appear innocent.  
**Translation: Who me?  
**  
Master chuckled and brushed his fingers through her fur gently as he made his way down the stairs, "You know, Neko-chan, maybe you should stop pestering big brother. He hasn't been himself these last few days and has gone as far to avoid everyone. Everyone including me. I assume he's busy thinking about his poor fate and Sora-san."

Neko purred under the caress and leaned into the touch.  
"Mrow,"  
**Translation: Whatever you say, master!**

* * *

"Let's play a game!" The Literature teacher suddenly spoke up excitedly, clapping her hands to gather everyone and ignored the many groans coming from her students. They still needed to practice the play a few more times before the big day, but it seemed that no one really wanted to helpwhich was a big understatement. Both main characters for the play stopped moving and blinked at their teacher.

"Since neither of you are cooperating I thought we should do some socializing," She explained, her smile widening while her eyes brightened.

"What's the use, teacher?"

"Yeah, it's not like we're still kids who play stupid games,"

"Boring. I hate practising this shit! I hate doing any sort of games!"

"I want to go home! Please, teacher, send me home. We've been doing this stupid scene for quite a while and I'm not very fond of games, so forget it!"

Her smile didn't waver. Then she narrowed her eyes.  
"Now, now, children. If I say we'll play a gamethen **_WE'LL PLAY A GAME_**!" Her voice echoed through the gym hall, scaring nearby birds from their nests and making teachers on a break, look up in surprise. She coughed sheepishly, turned round and headed to the teacher's desk on which she'd put her bag.

The students were all clinging to each other, their feet shaking as they watched their teacher pull out a piece of paper from her big note-block and start tearing it into small pieces.

"Ch', cowards," Yamato muttered under his breath, crossing his arms over his chest as he waited patiently for the teacher to yell "Action!" again, on the stage. His eyes unconsciously turned to look at Takenouchi, who had taken a seat on the edge of the stage on his right. It took a moment or two for him to notice that he was staring at her. Again.

Ever since the little incident with his fan club he kept feeling troubled about this Takenouchi character. Something had changed after she spoke those awful wordswhatever words she'd said had made him snap. Something had definitely changed. Other than the strange change, these last few days he'd received many, many gifts from a certain secret admirer, which was very annoying. He didn't opened any of them. He didn't have to, because he knew just what exactly was inside.

The teacher grinned and held her hands to her chest as if treasuring the torn pieces of paper. "Now here are a few simple rules. Girls will write the questions, while the rest of you write the answers,"

She received dubious looks from the students. "What?"

She smiled, "Each of you will get a blank little piece of paper. Write any question you like, for example casual ones like 'how are you?'-stuff. Same goes with the answers. Just write something down,"

"What does that have to do with our game?"

"What kind of game is this?"

"How should we start?"

"What exactly are we doing?"

"Why should we write questions? What kind of questions am I allowed to write?"

The students complained as each of them received a blank piece of paper. The teacher kept her smile up as she glared down at her pupils.

"Any more questions?" She wondered sweetly.

"No," And they started to scribble down something.

**_X X  
_**  
"What are you cooking tonight?" one of the guys read the written little note calmly.

"You're a jerk," one of the girls answered monotonously with the written note on the piece of paper.

The teacher instantly laughed out loud, leaving her students in the dark. They all blinked at each other and then at the teacher. They must have missed something

"What was that?"

"Don't you guys get it? That's the answer to the question you'd written!" the teacher finally elaborated. Realization slowly dawned the students' faces and they let out a long 'oh' to show that it was understood.

"Next," The teacher shook her cupped hands filled with the question notes and randomly picked out a boy to read out one of the crumpled little things. Then she left the heap of crumpled questions in a cup and took a different pile of crumpled notes between her hands. She shook hard and then picked out a random girl too.

"How are you?" It was again, read out monotonously.

"None of your business," was the answereven more monotonously.

Snickers. More snickers. Then everyone snickered.

"That one fit," Ms. Inoue commented. "NEXT!"

"Why are you at school?"

"Mom and Dad,"

Everyone blinked and all eyes were on the teacher. Her smiling face hadn't changed a bit after the weird answer. "NEXT!"

"When will we meet?"

"Today is a fine day,"

"NEXT!"

"What's your favorite color?"

"I hate you very much!"

"Now, now, that's very harsh. Next!"

"Why are you here?"

"Because I'm forced to come,"

"Hehehe, not bad. Next!"

"What's your name?"

"I'll give you my everything if you want,"

"Uhm...next,"

"Why are youbi?"

"Because I love you,"

"Wow! You guys think alike, next!"

"Why is the dog whimpering?"

"Because you've kicked her,"

"Hehehe, are you all telepathic? Next!"

"Why are you swaying?"

"Because I'm drunk,"

"Yep. I believe you people can read minds. Dammit. I've to shield my thoughts before any of you have read anything inappropriate in my mind. Hehehehe, next!"

"What are you eating right now?"

"I'll give you it tomorrow,"

"Uh, wow. Pick-up lines. I haven't noticed how smooth you guys can be. Next,"

"Why are you at school?"

"Because I've no choice,"

"Hmhmhmhm, next,"

"What are you wearing right now?"

"I'm very sure you're a virgin,"

"Tsk, you're all horny,"

Miss Inoue clapped her hands at last, to indicate they're all done for the day and widened her smile. "Now, wasn't that fun? You all can even read each other's minds. Very scary. So why can't any of you work together in peace?"

For some reason it felt as if she was pointedly asking both Yamato and Takenouchi... because everyone in class turned to look at both of them automatically. Yamato's face remained grim, while Takenouchi's was carefully blank.

* * *

The door to the living room opened with Yamato stepping inonly to freeze in mid-step and stare. Two pairs of eyes regarded him, scrutinizing him. Both pairs belonging to Takenouchi and some girl -what's her name?- with the strange obsession for red roses.

Takenouchi averted her gaze instantly.

The action didn't go unnoticed by her friend, who was regarding both of them with a certain empathy. She smiled politely at him, stood up and went towards him with an earnest smile.

"I'm Tachikawa Mimi. And you're Ishida Yamato, are you not?"

Yamato stared at the girl with his dull eyes. Tachikawa Mimithe name wasn't very familiarbut she was probably the type of girl Taichi had always dreamed of meeting or had that been Kido Jou, an older classman who hung out with Taichi's other friend, Izumi.

Her smile never wavered. She looked over her shoulder and suddenly look determined when Takenouchi did not look up at her.

"Now, come. Let's talk about this, just the three of us," In a very unlady-like way Tachikawa grabbed hold of his wrist in a tight hold before he could excuse himself, and pulled him along to the couch.

"I've been noticing very strange things going on between the two of you. So cold. So distant. What a shame. Although I've no idea what your relationship is with him, Sora-chan, I'm positive you aren't just being mean to him because he's a guy. And you, Ishida-san, I need not to spare you from my words. You have been quite withdrawn lately, even Taichi is complaining. So where exactly do I fit in, when you two are simplyhow should I say it?having a sort of lover's quarrel or some sort-," Tachikawa prattled on merrily as she made her self comfortable sitting across Takenouchi and Ishida. She sent them a small encouraging smile and took her cup of tea.

"Mimi!"

"Just ignore me or pretend that I'm not even in the room. I'm sure I might not have any idea what you guys would be talking aboutso go on, clear things up," she winked lightly and grinned good-naturedly at Takenouchi.

Takenouchi stared at her.  
Tachikawa stared back in response, smiling slightly and then suddenly shot up from her seat.

"All right! All right! I'm leaving. Who knows, a heart to heart talk between the two of you might help a bitI mean it's not so bad to have an arranged marriage. You see, it can be some kind of rescue to those who don't know much of loving and devoting someone. With an arranged marriage you two can learn to like each other at least and-," Tachikawa stopped abruptly as she looked down at Takenouchi only to meet a glare. She let out a twinkling laugh and glided deliberately towards the door.

"Please excuse my presence. I'll be off. See youprobably some time later," And Tachikawa stepped out of the room, leaving Yamato and Takenouchi to their own devices. Whatever Tachikawa was trying to do with her merry babbling, unusual mind reading and abrupt departure, it didn't change the situation of both Takenouchi and Yamato being engaged for an arranged marriage.

An uncomfortable silence immediately settled upon them. So disturbingly clichéd that the room was silent enough for one to cut the silence with a sharp knife and break the metal in the process. One could also say that a certain heaviness had settled in the room, for the air in the room was simply getting a bit hard to breathe in. What were they supposed to do? Play pranks on each other? Hurt each other? Kill each other because they were simply engaged? One being not-so-rich, while the other filthy-rich.

"_**AAAARGH!**_" Yamato suddenly screamed out, grabbing his hair.

Takenouchi looked up in shock.

"I can't take this anymore! It's too silent! And it's all your fault!" He shouted while pointing an accusing finger at the other's face. Takenouchi looked cross-eyed at the finger in surprise and slowly, let her anger rage an internal war within her.

She slapped the offending finger away and narrowed her eyes at him.

"Excuse me, Mr. Ishida. But did you just accuse me for causing the silence?"

"Yes!"

"Brat! Where's the logic in it?"

"You-You should apologize this instant for-for youruhmimproper behaviour!"

"Shut up, bastard! I'm not apologizing! You're the one who started this whole thing!"

"What whole thing? How dare you!"

"Ah, how dare I? We're here, talkingno, shouting at each other. What do you expect me to do? Sit back and listen to you scream nonsense to the world? To hear you shout at everything for your unfortunate situation?"

"Where the heck did those come from?"

"I don't know. You started this random accusing!"

"Hmph. Fine. It was just too silent, that's all. Let's talk,"

"So, now you're deciding to talk?"

"YES! Now shut up, Takenouchi! Or I'll-"

"Or you'll what?"

"Or I'llor-or-I will-will-will_stuff _you in those damn stupid flowers!" Yamato pointed at a random vase filled with freshly-picked (or bought) flowers in the living room.

Takenouchi could only blink several times, afraid that she'd heard it wrong. Nope. She didn't hear wrong. The answer was confirmed when she followed Yamato's pointing finger in the direction of a large vase with wild flowers standing next to the window. Suddenly she couldn't contain the bubbling laughter and thus burst out into fits of laughter.

Yamato turned red as soon as he caught on. His red face made Takenouchi laugh even harder, her eyes suddenly getting tears.

"Stop laughing! Stop laughing, Takenouchi! It's not funny,"

Takenouchi wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes as she let her chuckles die down. "Sorry. But you're a bit lame when it comes to verbal threatening,"

Yamato glared. Quite offended with such a comment coming from her. "I suppose you're good at it?"

"Of course!" She smirked at him.

He rolled his eyes in response. "Anything important for me to know how to be good at it?"

"Can't tell. It's my secret," Her smirk widened.

"Hmph," Yamato snorted at last, leaned back on the couch and crossed his arms on top of his breast.

"You know, Ishida-san, thank you for the gifts. Very awfully thoughtful of you. I like all of them," Takenouchi changed topic out of the blue. And it caught Yamato off guard.

"Gifts? What gifts?" He wondered in confusion.

She brought her hand to her chin and looked thoughtful. "Thought so,"

"What 'thought so'?"

Takenouchi looked contemplating at him, probably battling whether or not to tell him about some unexpected turns of events concerning the many, many gifts she'd received. And at last she made up her mind and decided to do it anyways. The reason as to why she would do such a thing will probably stay a mystery.

"Lately, I've been getting gifts," she trailed off and looked up at Yamato, wondering if he was listening.

"And?"

"And it's under your name,"

"What? I did not send you gifts!"

"That's what I've suspected. Because it's very unlike you to send me such generous gifts," Takenouchi explained with a disinterested tone.  
The words hit Yamato dead on.

"What do you mean by that?" He asked, shooting her a glare.

"What I mean is, you're just not the type of person who would send me letters and white roses every day,"

"Your point being?"

"My point is that you're a teenager who doesn't want to leave his childishness behind. I'm sorry to say this, but reallyyou're acting like a child,"

Yamato stuck his nose in the air, feeling offended again. "Hmph. And what has that to do with the strange gifts,"

"Everything? I don't know. It just struck me as odd when I found gifts with your name at my door,"

"And your deal being?"

"Someone is framing you,"

"And why is that?"

"And why is that?"

"That you would get beaten soon,"

"You make no sense, Takenouchi," Yamato grumbled.

"It's your mind, which isn't making sense. I know perfectly well that someone is ought to kidnap me under your name," Takenouchi smirked again, dramatically pointing at herself.

"And why would anyone want to do that?" He raised an elegant eyebrow at her.

"Because I'm too beautiful to resist?" She chuckled evilly.

Yamato's eyebrows shot up higher. "Because what?"

"Never mind," Takenouchi hung her head, sighing.

"Takenouchi,"

"Hm?"

"You're very weird," Yamato commented, his eyes turning seriously.

"Hm? Weird, huh? I guess I'll take this as a compliment," Takenouchi smiled at him; not the usual evil smiles or the usual smirks she used to sent his way. Just a small simple smile.

Yamato felt his face heat up at those words and roughly turned away to face the walls. "Whatever,"

**End chapter 12  
**  
**1.** I don't know Cat language, so please assume the translation is like that.  
**2. **It's a fun game if it's your first time. My class played this game, when none of us wanted to have more Dutch lessons pounded into our heads after the tests week. It's very fun and funny too.

**Endnotes:  
**  
I apologize for taking so long. It's about a year or so without any updates. **:bows frantically:** _**I'msorryI'msorryI'msorryI'msorryI'msorryI'msorryI'msorry.  
**_Are there any endnotes besides the apology? 9.9 Not that I know of other than the fact that this story will still get an end in the near future and is, now, treading a very bumpy road because of the author's divided attention. I'll speed things up a bit since it will be quite a bother to write about every day stuff, while making fanreaders WAIT for the next update and hunger for more romance. **:sighs: **  
This whole story will be re-edited soon. Too many errors **:sweatdrops:** Way too many grammatical errors and typos (and too much "..."). I apologize for the inconvenience; I'll try to hunt down all my errors which had slipped my mind while I re-read this story.

**_Thank you for reading! And Thank you for being very, very patient... is there anyone reading this anyway?_**


End file.
